Anyone But You
This article was published on 4/23 and republished on 4/25
Netflix
As of today, Tuesday, April 23, Anyone But You is now on Netflix, the December 2023 romantic comedy starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. What might have been a throwaway offering in a pile of similarly themed films actually ended up being a breakout hit that we rarely see from this genre anymore.
Anyone But You grossed $218 million worldwide on reportedly a $25 million budget — a big return on investment and a boost for both its already-surging actors, Sweeney and Powell. The film reviewed somewhat tepidly with critics, a 55% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it got an 87% from fans, and having watched it, it feels like a new-era genre classic back when we used to get things like The Proposal or 10 Things I Hate About You. It reminds me a bit of No Hard Feelings, another recent comedy that feels like a flashback to an older era.
Netflix landing this is a pretty big get, as when Anyone But You was only available for paid rental or purchase, it was topping Amazon
Anyone But You
Sweeney has been very pragmatic about her career as of late, with Anyone But You being a piece of that puzzle. She starred as a second-tier character in the outrageously terrible Madame Web, but she said it allowed her to start a relationship with Sony.
“To me that film was a building block. It’s what allowed me to build a relationship with Sony. Without doing Madame Web I wouldn’t have a relationship with the decision-makers over there,” she told British GQ. “Everything in my career I do not just for that story, but strategic business decisions. Because I did that, I was able to sell Anyone But You. I was able to get Barbarella.”
Sweeney recently starred in Immaculate, an unsettling horror film where her performance has been praised, and she will indeed be in that Barbarella remake eventually. There are also rumors she may be coming to the MCU (not as her Madame Web character). Powell has a Netflix original movie coming soon, Hit Man, and will star in Twisters later this year. Before Anyone But You he was riding high off his role in Top Gun Maverick.
It’s a solid romantic comedy. Anyone But You may not be for everyone, but this is going to do really well on Netflix and unseat Rebel Moon Part 2 here in short order.
Update (4/25): As expected, as soon as it debuted on Netflix, but the very next day, Anyone But You dethroned Netflix’s big blockbuster Rebel Moon Part 2 on the top 10 list, allowing it only a few days on top despite a high profile release. This is no surprise, given that totally random licensed movies do really well on Netflix all the time, but this was actually a major hit from just a few months ago, so it was clear this was going to happen. The question now is how long Anyone But You will stay there, but it’s going to definitely be a while.
Actually, Anyone But You is back in the news today with a report that Sweeney and Powell played up the “they’re having an affair on set” rumors in order to help generate buzz for the film, which was a common theory around the time of its release. When asked about that, Sweeney said she was consulted on all of it:
“I was on every call. I was in text group chats. I was probably keeping everybody over at Sony marketing and distribution awake at night because I couldn’t stop with ideas,” Sweeney said.
Powell gives Sweeney credit for having the idea to lean into the rumors once they took off:
“The two things that you have to sell a rom-com are fun and chemistry. Sydney and I have a ton of fun together, and we have a ton of effortless chemistry,” Powell said. “That’s people wanting what’s on the screen off the screen, and sometimes you just have to lean into it a bit — and it worked wonderfully. Sydney is very smart.”
Pretty funny, honestly, and another reason to appreciate the film which may have just been another rom-com, but blew up into a big hit.
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