2023 Rom-Com That Thrived Despite 55% RT Score Is Now A Global Netflix Hit

Summary Anyone But You has become a gloval Netflix hit just months after becoming a sleeper hit at the box office.

The movie landed at No. 2 on the weekly Netflix Top 10 chart with 18.3 million hours viewed.

The pairing of Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, fresh off successful projects, is likely a driving force behind the film's success.

Anyone But You has become a global Netflix hit. The Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell romantic comedy, which is loosely inspired by William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, earned a Rotten 55% score on Rotten Tomatoes and initially struggled at the box office, opening at No. 4 over Christmas week in 2023 with a $6 million debut that barely made a dent in its $25 million budget. However, as the weeks progressed, the movie became a sleeper hit in the new year, eventually rising to a total of $219.1 million and becoming the 26th highest-grossing movie of the year worldwide.

Netflix has now calculated their global Top 10 chart of their most-watched English-language movies for the week of April 22 through April 28. The Anyone But You streaming release has landed on the chart at No. 2 thanks to 10.6 million viewers amassing a total of 18.3 million hours viewed. This stellar result places the movie behind just one title, the Zack Snyder sci-fi epic Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver, a Netflix original feature that is in its second week of release.

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Anyone But You Assembled A Rom-Com Dream Team

Up-And-Coming Stars Meet Genre Veterans In Anyone But You

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The Anyone But You box office shows that worldwide audiences are responding to the movie, but its Netflix success coming just months after it premiered could show that the movie will be an enduring hit. This could potentially be the case for the same reasons that it likely succeeded in theaters, which is that it has assembled a rom-com dream team both in front of and behind the camera. On the crew side, this includes Easy A director Will Gluck and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series writer Ilana Wolpert.

However, the stacked Anyone But You cast is likely another huge reason the movie is resonating with audiences. The supporting cast includes up-and-coming stars from recent rom-coms such as Love, Simon's Alexandra Shipp and Never Have I Ever's Darren Barnet. However, it also features veterans of the romantic comedy genre including Dermot Mulroney and Rachel Griffiths, both of whom previously co-starred in the Julia Roberts vehicle My Best Friend's Wedding, though Mulroney's credits also include The Wedding Date and Griffiths' include Muriel's Wedding.

Darren Barnet also appeared in Love Hard and the spinoff American Pie Presents: Girls' Rules.

The Anyone But You leads have also been assembled at the exact perfect time. Many classic romantic comedies struck gold by pairing two stars on the rise, so with Powell fresh off the hit Top Gun: Maverick and Sweeney recently achieving recognition for HBO's Euphoria, the pairing of the stars seems to have been a perfect casting choice. It remains to be seen if this Netflix success will result in the stars collaborating more in the future, in a sequel or merely in another rom-com, but there is little doubt that they are a driving force behind this success.

Source: Netflix