Netflix scoops up a lot of licensed content and occasionally that lets them grab something that becomes a megahit on their service. Usually we see that with TV shows like Suits, but sometimes they can do it with movies as well. And this one is a big get for them.
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 massive 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 Prime’s charts for a long while. It’s a Sony production, Sony without its own dedicated streaming service, so projects like this go off to the highest bidder, and Netflix got it.
Sydney Sweeney has been very pragmatic about her career as of late, with Anyone But You being a puzzle piece of that. 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 said. “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). Glen 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.
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