Walking through the bustling streets of New York City to her job at a popular magazine publisher, with a coffee in hand and a chic bag slung over her shoulder. It’s a classic rom-com scene where we watch our protagonist move through her life while “Pocketful of Sunshine” by Natasha Bedingfield or another upbeat pop song plays in the background.
The term rom-com is short for romantic comedy, a genre that has been popular for decades, or at least was. Unfortunately, in recent years, rom-coms have experienced a sharp decline in box office earnings. What happened? How did the genre that ruled our screens and hearts become a nostalgic relic?
Many people see the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally as the start of the rom-com era. This cozy film, starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, is known as one of the best romantic comedies of all time. Following this, the 1990s, dozens more iconic rom-coms starring now well-known actors were released. From Julia Roberts’s bright, box office hits like Notting Hill and My Best Friend’s Wedding, to cute, classics like While You Were Sleeping and You’ve Got Mail. These movies are known for their iconic moments, tropes, and aesthetics, influencing the rom-coms that followed. As a result, studios started to make more romantic comedies because they grossed tens of millions of dollars at the box office. Audiences also wanted to see heartfelt love stories with the young actors who had taken over the genre.
The 2000s carried on these trends while bringing in new stars and original stories. One of these original stories became the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time; My Big Fat Greek Wedding, released in 2002. Nia Vardalos wrote and starred in the film; she wanted to see a family like hers represented on screen, persevering despite the obstacles she came across while trying to get the movie funded and distributed. In the 2000s, the comedic aspect of rom-coms was also highlighted with comedic actors like Will Smith and Adam Sandler in leading roles. The romantic comedies of the 2000s were fun, but still had the classic romance that people knew and loved from past rom-coms.
In the 2010s, romantic comedies began to lose the public’s attention. Factors like oversaturation, declining quality, and predictability were all factors that negatively impacted the performance of rom-coms. That low performance discouraged audiences from going to the theater to watch new rom-coms, opting to stay home and rewatch an old classic instead. Ticket sales fell substantially after 2011, leading studios to steer away from the genre in favor of other genres that were guaranteed to make back the money studios put into making the movies. Action movies, specifically superhero movies, rose in place of rom-coms. Even romantic comedies with rom-com legends such as Kate Hudson and Julia Roberts failed to perform or please audiences. A rom-com starring both actresses called Mother’s Day in 2016 only made 32.5 million dollars in the US and Canada on a filming budget of 25 million dollars. The film was also poorly received by critics, even leading both leading actresses to get nominations for Worst Leading Actress and Worst Supporting Actress at the Golden Raspberry Awards, also known as the Razzies.
The only true rom-com success of the decade was Crazy Rich Asians. The 2018 film highlighted a cultural group that was traditionally underrepresented in romantic comedies and wowed audiences as well as critics. The box office numbers matched those of beloved rom-coms from years past; the movie grossed 239 million dollars worldwide. This could’ve marked the beginning of a rom-com revival, but two years later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, halting the production of all movies and leaving theaters empty. However, the pandemic brought popularity to rom-coms that were only released on streaming services like To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and Always Be My Maybe. Since people couldn’t go to theaters, they gravitated towards light romantic comedies that they could watch from the comfort of their homes. These films never reached the mainstream exposure of rom-coms from previous decades, but they discovered a new kind of success that wasn’t an option in years prior. They also illustrate the best change that’s been made to romantic comedies in recent years, which are led by diverse casts. Before, rom-coms mostly focused on white heterosexual couples. But as attitudes shifted and audiences grew tired of seeing the same love stories over and over again, which opened the door for even more representation. Instead of promoting one ideal kind of love, rom-coms began to show all kinds of couples that had a range of races and sexualities.
Modern rom-coms might be able to match the success of past ones by blending the old elements that hooked audiences in the first place with updated tropes and casts that meet the desires of modern audiences. Anyone But You is a recent example of this blend. The 2023 film is based on one of Shakespeare’s plays, like many of the most popular rom-coms from the 90s and 2000s, but it avoids some of the reductive tropes of the past and has a diverse supporting cast. At the box office, the movie grossed over 220 million dollars worldwide, an amount that is unheard of for a romantic comedy since Crazy Rich Asians. Some recent films like Materialists and Eternity have found success in putting a deeper spin on the rom-com genre. Other movies like People We Meet On Vacation have mixed classic rom-com nostalgia with more modern attitudes, creating a fun, bright experience, even though the film wasn’t released in theaters. Even if romantic comedies never return to the cultural dominance that they used to have, they can still impact audiences the same way by focusing on the aspects that truly matter. Because, at the end of the day, who doesn’t love a love story?
