Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney’s Shakespeare-inspired romantic comedy, Anyone But You, came out back at the end of December. The movie, which is based on the play Much Ado About Nothing, barely made any money at the box office. Over the last month, however, the movie has rallied thanks to word of mouth and a song from the soundtrack being a part of a viral Tik Tok trend. In fact, Anyone But You has made such a comeback that Sony is re-releasing it in theaters and including bonus footage. Its success has not gone unnoticed and now, Hollywood execs are wondering if it’s a financially profitable time to make rom-coms a thing again.
It checks a lot of boxes: The main draw for moviegoers wasn’t the story itself per se, but the chemistry of its two romantic leads, Powell and Sweeney. “It stars two wildly likable actors. It appeals to a broad audience. And it’s a crowd-pleaser,” Travis Knox, associate professor at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, tells Yahoo Entertainment. “There’s nothing else out there right now that checks all of these boxes.”
Boccella notes that the combination of Powell and Sweeney, “two conventionally attractive people who have had a lot of conventional Hollywood success,” coupled with the framework of a modern Shakespearian retelling makes it harder for the movie not to find an audience.
The genre works: Anyone But You’s unexpected box office domination could usher in Hollywood’s reinvestment in big-screen romantic comedies at a time when the genre is “slightly more in the background,” Boccella explains. Incorporating elements of Shakespeare, whose works have proven to be a creative gold mine for the genre and who is credited with inventing every romantic comedy trope, is advantageous. “We know they work,” Boccella says.
Return of the rom-com? If there’s one takeaway from the success of Anyone But You, it’s proof that audiences have an appetite for watching romantic comedies in theaters, whether they’re Shakespeare-inspired or not. The timing may be right amid fatigue from big-budget superhero movies that don’t have quite the same effect they once did.
Big budget burnout: “Anyone But You beating box office odds and doing really well is a great sign because studios are going to look at that and say, ‘This is successful,’” Boccella explains. That is combined with the fact, she adds, that “there’s evidence that tentpole movies are failing. Argylle cost Apple $200 million and tanked. We’re burnt out on Marvel. Massive-budget movies don’t really fit the way they should anymore or the way they used to.”
Call it a comeback? “There’s still people that want to make them. It’s just a matter of, will studios put their faith in them?” Boccella says. “And I think they will, given the fact that Anyone But You had such success against its competitors.” Wagner agrees, adding a word of caution. “Nothing in theatrical is the same as it was before, but if we could see a resurgence,” it would be a step in the right direction.
Staying power: “A rom-com coming out on top, it’s not every day that that happens anymore,” Boccella says. “It’s nice to see [the genre] back in the public discussion and not just doing well at the box office. People continuing to talk about [Anyone But You] after the fact — that staying power is what’s going to get more of them made.”
Okay, first of all, rom-coms didn’t go away. They’ve been here the whole time, they just took on other forms, like Hallmark Christmas movies. There’s a reason that so many people watch that particular movie genre. Honestly, I think this says a lot about where audiences are nowadays. We have superhero fatigue and we’re tired of being asked to invest our time, emotions, and money into movies that are broken up into multiple parts or spread out over several movies and TV shows. We just lived through a pandemic, ffs. Rom-coms are easy to watch and don’t require a lot of emotional investment and/or homework before and after viewing them. Barbie, which is not an action, adventure, superhero, remake, sequel, or serious drama flick, brought out a lot of people who hadn’t been to the movies in years because they just weren’t interested in what was being offered. We’re ready to move on. I don’t know if Anyone But You will usher in a new rom-com era, but as someone who genuinely loves going to see a movie in theaters, it would be nice to have some variety again.
Yes to more rom-coms. But you need the right stars, the right chemistry, and bonus points if the stars manage not to run headfirst into a gossip storm about cheating on their partners during filming and press tours. Some people don’t care about that, but a significant part of the target audience for rom-coms very much do. A few more things for the wish list— while I very much hope they find the next Meg Ryan, I also want to see more Fire Islands, more Palm Springs, more Issa Rae and William Jackson Harper and Henry Golding and America Ferrara and Bridget Everett. And agreed with the poster above—for whatever reason, Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, alone or together, are an automatic no for me.
Speaking of Henry Golding, WHERE IS THE SEQUEL to crazy rich asians?!!?
Henry Golding for the new James Bond!
I think this – “We have superhero fatigue and we’re tired of being asked to invest our time, emotions, and money into movies that are broken up into multiple parts or spread out over several movies and TV shows” just really nails it.
Sometimes I just want to watch a movie. A light, fluffy movie that makes me feel good, even if most rom coms do make me cry at various points, lol. (I’m such a sap, I can’t help it.) I don’t want to invest in a series or something heavy that’s going to require a lot of mental bandwidth. My husband keeps wanting to start all these heavy series and I said to him last night – “I’m just so tired by the end of the day. My brain is tired.” So I really love nature documentaries and I love those cheesy docuseries and documentaries on Netflix (the one about Alexander the Great was pretty good, and ticking off the right wing MAGAs was just a bonus) because I can watch and kind of half pay attention, half zone out.
Suits was incredibly popular because of Meghan Markle’s appeal, yes. But it was also a fairly low stakes legal drama. Will Mike Ross be caught or wont he?!!?! What is Louis up to?!!??! IS PEARSON HARDMAN ABOUT TO BE TAKEN OVER?!?! And then my favorite, omg, a suit was filed yesterday and now Harvey has a deposition today and the trial is tomorrow?!!?!?! I think it also helped that the series was complete (even if they are now talking about a spin off.) You knew you weren’t going to get sucked into something that was going to get cut off 3 seasons in.
Barbie had some serious undertones and themes but it was also a pretty pink movie that had some great dance scenes and was overall fairly comedic. And it made a billion dollars.
And besides light movies and fluffy movies……women have money to spend and we want to spend it. It wasn’t all men going to see Endgame in the theaters and making it a huge success. Women don’t only need rom-coms and fluffy pink Barbie movies to get them in the theater – women went to see Oppenheimer too – but we don’t only want to see Endgames and Oppenheimers. It’s okay to make a movie that isn’t about the end of the world and make it enjoyable and fun and women will show up if its good.
I love GP but please for the love of all that is holy, get Sydney Sweeney away. She’s a good actress but I don’t think she’s a good fit for romcoms. I’m still bitter Netflix did not give us a sequel or another romcom for Glen & Zoe after Set It Up.
I have seen Set it Up nearly a dozen times! And it’s almost entirely because of the chemistry between Glen and Zoe! Wish they’d reunite, too. Sydney bores me incredibly and that’s why I’ll probably wait for streaming to see this.
I like rom coms and I see them in cinema if I am moved to, so bring ’em on. That said, Anyone But You is lucky that whatever TikTok trend revived it did so. Because it wasn’t great IMO. Glen Powell and the supporting cast were fine, but Sydney Sweeney was just such a miss. I watch Euphoria and she was the same person but in a rom-com. She just didn’t have the skill to pull this off and I didn’t see any chemistry with her and Powell. That said, there were some good moments, but it isn’t a movie I would recommend to anyone.
Will Gluck’s obssession with Natasha Beddingfield needs to be studied.
If they had actually sold Argylle as a spy spoof rom com and pared back the special effects to what the budget could actually cover, they might have had a success. And according to Vaughn the movie cost $80 million. There was then bidding for the distribution rights and Apple paid $200M. Am going to need to read a wrap up on what went wrong with this film. Because I’m hearing from friends who saw it that they had a good time.
The issue with rom coms is that they are so dependent on timing that not every one is going to be a hit. So studios need to have the patience to wait until the script is ready and then not meddle with it. They seem to have forgotten how to do that.
My son and I saw Argylle. He loves the Kingsman movies (which I hate bc they’re so gory) so he was bummed this wasn’t more violent. I liked the twists in this movie and the concept, but something about the execution was just off. Maybe it leaned a little too much into being its own absurdity.
Lol, you gotta love the Hollywood decision makers. Two conventionally attractive actors in a plot from 1598 – it’s fresh, it’s new, it’s genius!!
LOL! Exactly @Eurydice. @Rosie is right, too. “The rom-com never went away.” My thoughts, exactly. 💯 For sure, a lot of them have been hiding out on The Hallmark Channel, on Netflix, and on reality tv fare, such as the U.K.’s “Love Island,” et al. In fact, a well-known Montecito power couple whom Salty Isle love to hate, are currently producing a rom-com for Netflix, based on the novel,”Meet Me At The Lake,” by Carley Fortune. It will probably make a fortune too, especially for Netflix and H&M.
Romantic fiction is still popular too, even if incorporated within other genres, such as thrillers, adventure stories, mysteries, and whodunits. The teen fiction category abounds with rom-com plots, which also make their way to screens, large and small.
Everyone loves a good love story, and ‘laughter is always the best medicine.’ So rom-coms will always exist, whether are not Hollywood execs are excitedly backing them or not. Would they even notice or care had not TikTok revived this current sleeper initially released in December? 🤔
Romantic fiction is such a huge-selling genre, and while some of the books get made into movies, there are a LOT that never get made but could. Nora Roberts’ books are formulaic but she has sold hundreds of millions of copies, and the only movies that I’ve seen of hers on Lifetime are SO BAD – they’re just so low budget and bad. Why not develop one of those for the big screen, or as a streaming series?
The romantasy genre is huge right now and I know some of the books have been optioned, but I keep thinking back to how bad City of Bones was and I’m….not hopeful. (that wasn’t quite romantasy but still.)
I read a ton of romantic fiction,the genre is deñse. I can’t believe nobody has optioned Sarah J Maas. And with Bridgerton’s success where are the historical romances? I watched that abomination with Reese Witherspoon and the unwashed guy only for the Tig cameo and can’t believe Reese has been in so many romantic comedies, she’s tottering around in heels so we forget she’s 4 ft tall and the lead is 2ft taller, just weird.
I think part of the issue with trying to recreate that rom-com magic is that there aren’t really true movie stars today who are in their 20s-30s. Yes we have Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence but we used to have a lot of “America’s Sweethearts” – Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Reese Witherspoon, Renee Zellweger, Jennifer Aniston, etc. They have so much star power that was generated from big projects starting in their 20s and I feel like they are the last generation of true movie stars. I’ll even throw in Anne Hathaway and Rachel McAdams, though they are a bit younger than the others. With all the big studio budgets focusing on tv now, it’s just not the same. You have hundreds of shows now and the field of actors seems larger and maybe diluted so that there aren’t as many young standouts as there once were. I hate to say this but Glen Powell is a movie star and Sydney Sweeney is not. I can see where it’s a challenge to get two equally large stars from a field of tv names and then hope they have great enough chemistry to make movie magic. Just a different time than the classic rom-coms we cherish.
^^ Great observations @Winnie Cooper’s Mom! 💯
Yes to everything you said. I want variety, so tired of movies that explore the dark side of everything and unlikable protagonists – I can always look to Congress if I need those!
@Kathleen
“I can always look to Congress if I need those!” lol So true!
Ohhhh always yes to more Henry Golding
I really enjoyed watching 2019’s rom-com “Plus One” with Maya Erskine and Jack Quaid. It popped up on my Netflix a few weeks ago. That movie really grew on me as it went along because of the wonderfully quirky chemistry between Maya and Jack.
I will watch this thanks for recommendation.
This was just released last week back home and we went to watch it and we both loved it. We actually laughed and found both of them likeable. I actually think SS is a very good actress who morphs into each character. GP is gold too. I loved SET IT UP.
I’m not a massive rom-con fab but I will turn up to watch a movie with a good cast and decent story. What I don’t want is to know I’ll have to be in there for 3+ hours and have hours and hours of homework to watch first unless I want to be worried I’m missing half the plot.
More original movies please.
I’m with you. I wish all movies would be under 2 hours.
Sweeney lacks charm and warmth. She’s like Witherspoon, who also is not a good fit for romantic comedy. I don’t mean women should be “cute and soft,” I can’t quite explain what I mean. There’s no vulnerability.
ITA. I laughed when reading her called “wildly likable.” Although I think Reese W has much more warmth in comparison.
I’m sorry, but these two do nothing for me. I love rom-coms and would love to see more.