Sony Motion Picture Group Chairman has a few things to celebrate this weekend: Between the studio’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and the studio’s R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings, the studio counts four Golden Globe noms. But then there’s Sony movie, Anyone But You, which reps a return for romantic comedies to the big screen; that Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell title saw a 9% jump in its third weekend at the B.O. which is unprecedented for any title in the post-holiday season.
To date, Anyone But You has posted a 7x multiple off its 3-day domestic $6M opening for a gross to date of $43.7M. Worldwide, the $25M production, co-financed by SK Global Entertainment and TSG Entertainment, has racked up $58.4M.
“The movie went up this weekend, and every other movie went down,” beamed Rothman on the Golden Globes red carpet at the Beverly Hilton.
For quite some time, romantic comedies have been relegated to streaming services.
“I don’t think the audience for romantic comedies ever went away,” says Rothman about what the movie’s recipe for-success, “Studios just stopped believing in them. If you build it, they (audiences) will come.”
“What happened with this movie isn’t something I haven’t seen in a long time; a movie that has gotten better and better each weekend.”
With Marvel and DC getting pummeled at the box office in Q4, many in town believe superhero fatigue has set in. “No, I don’t think there is,” says Rothman tossing that cynical theory aside. Read, Sony had the third highest grossing movie last year, sixth highest worldwide with Spider-Man: Across the Universe ($381.3M domestic, $690.5M WW), an animated Marvel movie that continued to breathe new life into the tired comic-book genre.
“I think the audience has very high standards. I think that all theatrical movies now — if you want to have a movie in a movie theater, it has to be really excellent,” says Rothman about moviegoers’ high-standard demands for quality.
“I think there is an impatience with things that are only ok; movies have to be great.”