Romantic comedies, or “rom-coms” have been a staple in cinema for 100 years, with the firstin this category deemed to be “Girl Shy” in 1924. Despite having had a century-long run, many rom-com aficionados would agree that the golden age of romantic comedies was during the 1990s and going into the 2000s. Films such as “Notting Hill,” “10 Things I Hate About You,” “While You Were Sleeping,” “You’ve Got Mail” and many more classics defined this time for rom-coms. With this popularity one would think that the film industry would continue to push out more and more, but success during this time has decreased.
While there have been some notable rom-coms that have come out in the 2010’s such as “Crazy Rich Asians” and the “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” series, the genre has seen a decrease in success throughout these years and into the 2020s.
Though the reason for the decrease in said genre is not conclusive, many have their personal opinions and theories as to why this may be the case. The Medium publishing website explained that some of the more popular reasons pointed to this decrease in the profitability of the films. Though the films may not be as expensive as action-packed movies involving computer-generated imagery (CGI), the box office success may not be worth the money a studio puts into production.
Another popular theory surrounding the demise of the genre was the overproduction of the films in what Deseret News described as “overproducing rom-coms with no quality control whatsoever.” An example of said overproduction and a lack of originality when regarding tropes in said films was the release of movies “Friends with Benefits” and “No Strings Attached.” Both of these movies were released in 2011, and both followed virtually the same plots, showing the growing unoriginality of the genre.
Despite the popularity of rom-coms seemingly decreasing, it seems like the film industry is on its way to a possible resurgence of the genre. An example of this case is the “Anyone but You” starring “Euphoria” star Sydney Sweeney and experienced rom-com actor Glen Powell. Though the film did not receive raving reviews, as it only got a 55% on rotten tomatoes and criticism on the actor’s chemistry, the film was able to attract worldwide attention through the help of social media and the buzz it created. Costing about $25 million to make, the film successfully surpassed the $200 million mark and was deemed a box office success.
Through the challenges the genre has faced, it seems that the romantic comedy genre will not be going anywhere in regards to the film industry, and rom-com fans may look forward to a renaissance of the love-filled genre.
Sources:
https://www.businessinsider.com/best-rom-com-movies-golden-age-stream#shes-the-man-12
https://www.glamour.com/story/a-brief-history-of-romantic-co
