Friday, May 22, 2026

Spielberg’s “West Side Story” Kicks Off Previews Thursday Night and Long Road to the Oscars with $800K

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And now the long road to the Oscars begins.

Steven Spielberg’s reimagining of “West Side Story” kicked off with Thursday night previews totaling $800,000. That’s a little soft but not disappointing at all. The musical with rave reviews will play in 2,800 theaters starting tonight, about a thousand fewer than most wide releases these days.

“WSS” is a 20th Century release from “WSS” which means Disney is distributing it. So far Disney has done a pretty lousy job with 20th releases. But the pressure must be on to make “WSS” a hit. There’s a potential here for a record number of Oscar nominations. Many have praised the new edition as better than the original classic. So we should big numbers over the holidays.

Get out and see a movie this weekend. We now have “WSS” and “Belfast” in theaters. Wear a mask, big deal. Sit a seat apart from strangers. But get away from the TV set and the computer!

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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