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(NewsNation) — Let’s hope Jennifer Lopez’s marriage to Ben Affleck goes better than her paean to her love for him because the J.Lo “ecosystem” isn’t working.
(As her longtime manager Benny Medina told Billboard: “The mindset was, ‘Let’s create a Jennifer Lopez ecosystem that can push out into all the different worlds that she has traversed.’”)
But Lopez and Medina miscalculated… badly.
Unlike other singers, Madonna, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, who have set their own rules by releasing albums, movies and touring at the same time… Lopez overestimated her fanbase and her own popularity.
The movie she funded about her life, “The Greatest Love Story Never Told,” as well as her documentary both flopped. The documentary was bought by Amazon (so numbers are hidden) and became the butt of social media jokes. TikTokers viciously mocked Jenny from the Block, and the New York Times savaged it, saying: “(The doc) is a showcase for the exhausting, never-ending, hazardous work of being Jennifer Lopez…This project doesn’t seem to have brought Lopez any closer to serenity or levity. It’s an occasion for even more toil.”
The harshest criticism came with “Greatest Love Story Never Told,”, which was widely panned, didn’t have any actual celebrities starring in it (besides Lopez) – despite Lopez reaching out to Taylor Swift, Jason Momoa, Lizzo and Jennifer Coolidge… all of whom passed.
Fans slammed the movie as, “This is the longest, most boring, narcissistic music video I have ever seen.”
Other comments included:
- “I had to turn it off…..so embarrassed for her!”
- “I feel bad for her really. All the money/fame in the world and so deeply deeply insecure.”
- “Not being catty when saying this but please get a therapist and work through your issues. You’re worthy of truly loving yourself.”
The documentary and movie cost a whopping $70 million to make ($20 million of her own money) and the movie brought in a measly $7.2 million at the box office.
Her first studio album in 10 years, “This is Me… Now” was also critically panned by critics and fans alike — the New York Post even going so far as to say “is giving us “Gigli” all over again” — and also flopped, debuting at 38 on Billboard charts and falling fast.
The tour “This Is Me…Now” sold so badly, seven cities were canceled, and it had to be rebranded as “This Is Me… Live,” featuring her greatest hits instead of the treacly love songs from her latest album.
But even the chance to see her perform her greatest hits isn’t charging up her fanbase.
Lopez has yet to sell out a show anywhere and tickets in New York City – her hometown – in all sections are readily available. The most expensive tickets for front-row seats are hovering around the $1,000 mark. Compare that to similar seats for Beyonce ($5,000), Madonna ($3,200) or Taylor Swift (resale market as her concerts almost immediately sell out around the world: $20,000).
Lopez can’t say she wasn’t warned. As her longtime producing partner Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas told Variety: “I’m in New York and she’s saying, ‘I think I’m going to finance this myself.’ I was like, ‘Wait, what? I don’t even know what it is. What are you doing?’ I was worried. ‘Why are you sharing your story? It’s too personal. Stop it.’ It made me uncomfortable for her.”
When asked if she ever became comfortable with the movies, Goldsmith Thomas responded: “No! She never won me over.”
“Jennifer’s always been a marketing and PR genius but her biggest miscalculation here is that she thinks the world is still interested in Ben and Jennifer’s love story,” Rob Shuter, Lopez’s former PR man, told the New York Post. “But no one cares about Bennifer anymore. The world has moved on.”
To add insult to injury, Affleck’s ex-wife Jennifer Garner is set to star alongside his best friend Matt Damon in the Netflix thriller, “Animals”… as Damon’s wife. Affleck and Damon are producing the movie, which Affleck is directing.
“This isn’t sitting well with Jennifer,” my source said. “(Lopez) considers herself a triple threat: singer, dancer and actor. So why wasn’t she chosen to be the wife? Why does it have be (Garner), Ben’s ex?”
While Affleck and Garner’s children get along well with Lopez’s twins with Marc Anthony, the relationship between Garner and Lopez is “practically nonexistent — they have zero in common,” my source added.
So, what’s a girl to do if you’ve just had the lousiest two months of your professional life? If you’re J.Lo, you throw yourself back into work.
When not being photographed on the streets of New York, Lopez is filming “Kiss of the Spider Woman” in Newark, New Jersey.
According to the New York Post, “The film is set in an Argentinian prison in 1981, and centers on a fantasy woman (played by Lopez) who is created by an inmate serving an eight-year sentence.”
“It’s 12-hour days,” my insider said. “She’s literally dancing and working her butt off the entire time.”
When asked about her demeanor, the insider, who has worked with Lopez on several projects in the past said only: “Chastened.”
