Why La La Land Worked Better Than Anyone Dreamed

Brassy love ballads, Technicolor dialogue, and a smattering of soft-shoe–La La Land had all the makings of a blockbuster, in the 1940s at least. Today, the mass market of moviegoers prefer action to romance, aliens to artists, and above all else the blossoming genre of superhero bros in tights.

It’s no surprise that La La Land was a hit with critics and remains the heavy favorite to win the Academy Award for Best Picture on Feb. 26. What’s improbable, however, is how widely the film has won favor. Of late, the most critically praised films tended to have little clout with consumers: The Hurt Locker, which won Academy bragging rights in 2009, managed just $17 million in domestic theaters, for example. But La La Land is packing them in like an esoteric jazz club that suddenly becomes the “it” spot. Life, it seems, is following the script.