While there’s nothing quite like the experience of watching live theater, seeing a production of a Broadway musical can cost hundreds of dollars. 

So, bringing these plays to movie theaters for a wider audience is a long tradition that makes these stories more accessible to the masses.

Many early Broadway shows were successfully adapted into film. “Phantom of the Opera” had nine movie adaptations ranging from the original in 1925 all the way to the 2011 version. “Oklahoma!” (1955), “The King and I” (1956), and “The Sound of Music” (1965) are all other examples of wildly popular musical adaptations.

In past decades, movie musicals brought in a significant amount of money for movie studios. “The Sound of Music” is one of the most highly successful musical films of all time. According to CNBC, “Comscore estimated that [‘The Sound of Music’], which won five Academy Awards, sold around 157.2 million tickets. That is around $1.41 billion when adjusted for today’s ticket prices.”

More recently, in 2002, the latest film version of “Chicago” brought in $306.8 million in box office sales. Ten years later in 2012, “Les Miserables” grossed $441.8 million.  

These previous adaptations have all proven to be successful, but in the past year, several expected blockbuster musical films have majorly disappointed at the box office.

“Some people may be expecting the exact same performance that they’ve seen live, in a movie,” junior Emma Kollo said. “Certain things that you can do in musicals, you can’t always do in films.”

In 2021, the lineup of these highly anticipated films included “West Side Story” and “Dear Evan Hansen”.

“West Side Story” is a beloved Broadway show that was made into a very successful movie in 1961. Sixty years later, the 2021 version was directed by Steven Spielberg and had a budget of $100 million, along with a lot of hype. This film has made only $37.8 million at the domestic box office as of Feb. 22.

“Dear Evan Hansen” was another widely anticipated film of 2021. Since its release on Sept. 24, it has made $15 million in the domestic box office, just slightly more than half of its $28 million budget.

Why might these movies be having very little success and making such a small amount of money after the amount of anticipation about their release?

One answer to this question could be the obvious: COVID-19. According to CNBC, 2021 box office sales were behind 2019’s by 70 percent. This might be a huge reason for the flop of “West Side Story”, especially since it came out during the height of the Omicron variant.

Another possible reason that covers all of these recent films is the growing appeal of animated musicals. According to IMDB, eight out of 10 of the top grossing movie musicals are animated. “Frozen”, “Moana”, and both “Lion King” films are included on this list.

The growing popularity of streaming services has had a major impact on the film industry as a whole, which could also directly impact these movie musicals.

When Disney+ introduced “Hamilton” on its platform, it was a huge hit. “Encanto” was released through Disney+ in late December and quickly became one of the top movies of the year. The song from “Encanto” titled “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first Disney song to do so in almost 30 years.

These two instances show that people are still interested in movie musicals, which could mean that theaters themselves are the reason films like “West Side Story” and “Dear Evan Hansen” didn’t do well this year.