The death of the studio rom com came from glib and over-budgeted misfires like 2010's How Do You Know that tried to prove they were better than their genre's conventions. People have never stopped enjoying the sight of highly attractive people becoming locked into dramatic relationships with each other, provided the writing stays halfway decent. What Anyone But You and Saltburn demonstrated over the holidays is the enormous value of TikTok to elevating the impact of theatrical-first releases, whether they're arriving at the cinema or on a streaming service. BookTok has already supplied an ample sample of the types of narrative and character tropes that take off on the platform. Keep the actors beautiful, the budgets reasonable, the needle drops memorable, and the theatrical windows just long enough to build actual hype. At $25M a piece you can produce 10 for the cost of just one of Disney's high-profile 2023 flops.
Sony thought Anyone But You was going to make $20M at the domestic box office. Its going to triple that — if not more. Studios have largely soured on romantic comedies, relegating them to streaming services Netflix and Amazon. But the popularity of this movie is a reminder that people will show up for rom coms done well. This one benefits from two appealing young stars (Sydney Sweeney + Glen Powell) and a reasonable budget ($25Mish). It has gotten a huge lift from young women on social media. Some will call the social buzz an anomaly, but studios need to figure out how to replicate things like Encanto, Barbie and, on a much smaller scale, Anyone But You. https://lnkd.in/g3V2jvZx