I just finished watching the remake of West Side Story streaming on my HBO Max account today. I enjoyed it very much and
compared it immediately with the 1961 original movie. The first video
outlined the differences between the 1961 and 2021 versions. I like
both versions equally.
Here's a summary from Wikipedia:
West Side Story is a 2021 American musical romantic drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Tony Kushner. It is the second feature-length adaptation of the 1957 stage musical of the same name.10] It stars Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler in her film debut with Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, and Rita Moreno in supporting roles. The latter, who starred in the 1961 film adaptation, also served as an executive producer alongside Kushner. The film features music composed by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
The film entered development in 2014 at 20th Century Fox and Kushner began writing the screenplay in 2017. In January 2018, Spielberg was hired and casting began that September. Justin Peck choreographed the dance sequences. Principal photography occurred in New York and New Jersey; filming began in July 2019 and ran for two months.
West Side Story had its world premiere at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater in New York City on November 29, 2021, three days after Sondheim's death. The film was theatrically distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through the 20th Century Studios label in the United States on December 10, 2021 after being delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film received universal critical acclaim, with praise for the performances of the cast, Spielberg's direction and the cinematography, with some critics deeming it superior to the 1961 film. It received seven nominations at the 94th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and was named one of the top ten films of 2021 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. It also received four nominations at the 79th Golden Globe Awards, winning three, including Best Picture – Musical/Comedy, Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical for Zegler, and Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for DeBose. The film was a box-office bomb, grossing a total of $72.5 million worldwide against a production budget of $100 million.
After watching the movie I have now two favorites for the Oscar Winner for Best Picture this year. The first one was the Power of the Dog that I reviewed a few weeks ago. If you enjoy watching musicals, this movie is a must see.
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