Sony Scores Surprising Box Office Hit

Sony has managed to release a surprise box office hit. Anyone But You is out in the world and still gaining steam. The Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell romantic comedy has already made more than $60 million at the box office. Anyone But You’s budget was only $25 million, so that means the Sony Pictures movie is already a success. But, digging into the numbers only spotlights how incredible this story really is. Over at Bloomberg, they talked to Comsore and the research firm says that the romantic comedy actually managed to increase tickets sales for two straight weekends. The typically doesn’t happen and signals a small shift in theater-going audiences.

For years, movie studios have employed a boom or bust strategy to mostly positive results for their bottom lines. A number of these companies put all their resources toward a few huge movies every year and hope for a big hit that will yield more than $700 million dollars. However, since the pandemic began, some other outfits are finding success with smaller budget movies that find their audiences and then really drill into it. Hopefully, the success of movies like Anyone But You doesn’t go unnoticed.

“The success of Anyone But You has been led by the audience,” director, Will Gluck told Blomberg in an email. “They seem to have a great time watching it, feeling it, humming it — and have echoed this to their friends, family and social media. And there is no better marketing than that.”

Anyone But You Showcases Chemistry Between The Leads 

One other reason that Anyone But You did so well was because of Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney’s on-screen chemistry. Not too long ago, fans really thought they were dating in real life. However, Powell would tell Business Insider that this wasn’t the case.

“I’ll pretty much give Sydney all the credit for this. I don’t have the mental capacity to pull anything like this off, but she’s very smart. She’s very smart. And look, Sydney and I do have authentic chemistry…” Powell shared as the interviewer co-signed. The star had some other nice things to say. “I had such a wonderful journey with her on this thing. But in terms of actual dating and actually being together?,” he had to laugh.

“Well, look, the only reason it made things harder for me to lean into that stuff was that I was going through a very real breakup amidst a promotional tour. I was with someone that I really loved and cared about and was trying to kind of make sense of a lot of stuff,” he continued. “It was a lot easier for Sydney to lean into something like that because she’s in a very committed and wonderful relationship and she’s very happy. So it was a little harder for me.” 

There’s Still Time To Catch Up

Here’s what Sony has to say about their under-the-radar hit: “In the edgy comedy Anyone But You, Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) look like the perfect couple, but after an amazing first date something happens that turns their fiery hot attraction ice cold – until they find themselves unexpectedly thrust together at a destination wedding in Australia. So they do what any two mature adults would do: pretend to be a couple.”

Have you seen Anyone But You? Let us know down in the comments!