I’m not speaking disparagingly or disrespectfully of the crowds who are surging into theatres this weekend to see Spider–Man: No Way Home with the above headline. Well, maybe a little.

I’m just referencing that old showbiz or advertising maxim about how you can’t make dogs eat a certain brand of dog food if they don’t like how it tastes. (Famous Sam Goldwyn variation: “If people don’t want to see something, you can’t stop them.”) This morning’s Spider–Man numbers tell us that the reverse is suddenly and startlingly true right now, even with Omnicron hovering over everyone and everything.

You know what this tells me, above and beyond the cheering crowds? It tells me that aside from your older fraidy cat moviegoers, Omnicron didn’t have that much to do with the flopping of West Side Story. It also tells me that younger audiences could stand to upgrade their taste buds and let a little Shakespeare and music into their life.