Yes, romantic comedies are still in style if done right and kept at a reasonable budget. Sony’s sexy rom-com Anyone But You, starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, has proven impressive legs by making eight times its budget and reaching a new milestone. By making $200 million this weekend, it has become the highest-grossing movie in the genre post-2019.
The previous record holder for rom-coms in the pandemic era was Sandra Bullock’s The Lost City, which grossed about $192 million globally by the end of its run. After nine weeks, 2023’s R-rated rom-com over took it.
Anyone But You Box Office Goes Beyond Its Budget
As pointed out by Variety, the Anyone But You, which had a budget of $25 million, is the first film to reach the $200 million marker in years. Julia Roberts and George Clooney’s Ticket to Paradise reached $168 million and then The Lost City was the closest by being $8 million short. The last film to cross the figure was 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians ($239 million). For R-rated films in the genre, it was 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby ($211 million).
Sony has leaned into lower budgets across its productions when possible, from its rom-coms to superhero blockbusters. It was a needed win after the film had a slowly start at the box office, but has slowly grown into a major hit. The good news comes after the disastrous Madame Web box office, that currently is performing lower than Morbius.
The pandemic era has shown that quality and movies that feel like events are what studios need to succeed against the popularity and convenience of streaming. As a theater experience has gotten expensive and not as comforting as their homes, it takes real motivation to get butts into seats. Event-like movies like Oppenheimer and Barbie have proven one way of getting people to go to the theater. Popular pop cultural icons like Spider-Man with Across the Spider-Verse and No Way Home have also shown IP-driven projects can work, under the right circumstances. Then, lower budgets as seen with horror and most rom-coms give studios less risk with great rewards if the quality and word-of-mouth is there.
Anyone But You is still in theaters. The film took the No Way Home approach by having an extended version released with the subtitle The Valentine Encore.
