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If you’ve been asking yourself where all the romantic comedies went, the answer is simple: to streaming services. However, at the end of last year, audiences got the rare opportunity to see a rom-com in theaters with Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s Anyone But You, ensuing commercial profit. The movie is an outlier for the genre for a reason considering the director’s recent comments on getting it to the big screen.
Will Gluck is an experienced filmmaker who has seen two of his prior rom-coms go to theaters (Easy A and Friends With Benefits). While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about the process of making Anyone But You with Columbia Pictures, he shared his intentions to bring it to theaters from the beginning, along with saying this:
It was a little bit of a battle to convince everybody. I just had to explain how good the people in the movie are and how impactful a theatrical experience could be.
Luckily, Will Gluck was very much right. Anyone But You ended up making $220 million worldwide against a $25 million budget – which is a huge win. Plus, it only made 11% of its domestic earnings across its first weekend, which means it had legs to remain popular across its theatrical run thanks to word of mouth, whereas so many movies earn their greatest pile of cash across their debut weekend.
While critics were mixed on the movie, including CinemaBlend’s own Anyone But You review, audiences had a ball with it. It particularly helps that Sweeney and Powell are two of the most popular young stars making movies right now, between Powell’s role in Top Gun: Maverick alongside Tom Crusie and Sweeney’s viral role in Euphoria as Cassie. The pair of leads even leaned into affair rumors ahead of the movie’s release. Powell admitted to the clever marketing method in April, saying it “worked wonderfully” and Sydney Sweeney “is very smart.”
Anyone But You did so well that Sydney Sweeney has even been asked about a sequel, which she was very coy about. The romantic comedy actually follows so many movies based on Shakespeare plays that don’t include a single use of “thou.” The formula of using Shakespeare as inspiration has worked for many great romantic comedies over the years, too, from 10 Things I Hate About You to She’s The Man. In the case of the Sydney Sweeney film, it’s loosely based on Much Ado About Nothing.
Hopefully the success of Anyone But You inspired Columbia Pictures and more studios to greenlight more star-studded romantic comedies for the big screen. There’s nothing like laughing with strangers in theaters. You can watch Anyone But You now with a Netflix subscription.