ROMCOM
Can the romcom make a real comeback?
Why the 2000s favourites endure, and what it takes to make the comeback work.
What happened to the romantic comedy? Films that once felt like an ordinary part of going to the cinema began to feel like an exception. Then Anyone But You found an audience and Bridget Jones returned. Had the appetite disappeared, or had Hollywood stopped serving it?
Where the films went
CNBC's reporting describes a studio shift toward expensive franchises and away from smaller theatrical films. Genre historian Scott Meslow argues that no single romcom killed the business. Priorities changed. The Guardian reports that Netflix's interest helped bring previously neglected scripts back into consideration.
The genre survived, but its commercial job changed. A cinema release asks someone to leave home and buy a ticket. A streaming film competes with everything already available on the sofa.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy shows how those choices differ by market. Variety reported a US Peacock release alongside international cinema releases, reflecting the franchise's stronger overseas performance. Deadline reported that it passed $100 million internationally in March 2025. That is ticket revenue, not profit, but hardly evidence that the whole world had stopped wanting romance in cinemas.
Why the old favourites stay
The 1990s and early 2000s are often called a golden age of the Hollywood romcom. Yet the favourites remembered now are a selection, not every film the period produced. They have also had years to become familiar.
What can a new film learn from them? In The Stanford Daily, 13 Going on 30 co-writer Cathy Yuspa explains that its premise grew from observing teenagers and remembering changes in her own friendships. The body swap supplied comedy; the emotional material was personal.
Discussing Jenna and Matty eating sweets on swings, she connects the action to the emotional idea and credits the performances. The relationship has something to do. Affection becomes visible rather than simply announced. That is a lesson worth borrowing, not a requirement to reproduce a decade.
A comeback needs room
Anyone But You did not arrive as an immediate blockbuster. CNBC reported a $6 million opening weekend and roughly $170 million worldwide seven weeks later, against a reported $25 million production budget. Those are early-run figures, not its final total.
Director Will Gluck credits word of mouth and TikTok, where viewers shared videos around the film's use of Natasha Bedingfield's Unwritten. The Guardian also points to limited direct competition and room for more showtimes. Conversation helped, but the release needed time for people to act on it.
The success does not make every romcom a safe bet. Rolling Stone's 2026 reporting describes filmmakers still struggling for theatrical support. A comeback can be real without being complete.
What makes the romance funny
What does a good romcom actually need? In RogerEbert.com's interview about Meet Cute in Manhattan, co-writers Karen Morey and Terence Chen disagree about whether the couple must end up together. Both insist on romance and comedy; Chen also stresses that the relationship should change the characters.
A familiar structure is not the problem. Thin characters are. Why do these people want each other? What gets in their way? And is the journey funny enough to enjoy before the ending arrives? The supporting cast, setting and performances can carry those answers alongside the leads.
The strongest return would give new love stories room to be made and discovered, rather than asking them to impersonate old favourites. Falling in love has not stopped being interesting. A film still has to make these particular people worth caring about, and make getting there a pleasure.
Sources CNBC - Anyone But You and the romcom market ↗The Guardian - Anyone But You and romcom production ↗Variety - Bridget Jones and release strategy ↗Deadline - Bridget Jones international box office ↗The Stanford Daily - Cathy Yuspa on 13 Going on 30 ↗RogerEbert.com - Meet Cute in Manhattan ↗Rolling Stone - Romcoms in theatres ↗