Although romantic comedy is technically considered a sub-genre, over the years they have constructed their own tropes, archetypes and clichés, not unlike horror or science fiction. This hasn’t prevented them from being consistently stepped on by critics. Some argue that romantic comedies, despite their abundance and success, are dismissed due to their lack of variety and crowd-pleasing nature. This is generally true, as rom-coms that follow the same basic structure and the same marketing formula are almost guaranteed to make a profit. However, the genre has arguably produced more iconic films over the years than its melodramatic mother, the romance. Over the years, there has been a significant selection of films that fit the description of a rom-com but are creative enough to stand out, even in the eyes of hardcore cinephiles. Films such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Annie Hall (1977) and When Harry Met Sally… (1989) are often considered among the greatest films of all time, despite belonging to a category that isn’t often recognised by awards organisations like the Academy. Although, since the millennium, there have been very few romantic comedies that have had the kind of impact that some previous rom-coms had, and to be frank, most of them have been just as the critics say - formulaic, unoriginal and generally poor. Aside from Knocked Up (2007) and (500) Days of Summer (2009), it’s hard to name a recent romantic comedy that reaches the heights of Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) or Groundhog Day (1993).
That was, until a couple of years ago. Lately, there has been an inundation of creative, fresh rom-coms that do not strictly adhere to the formula but do not entirely abandon the conventions that general audiences love and pay for. This roughly began in 2017, with the release of Michael Showalter’s The Big Sick. Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani were nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars for their script, which was loosely based on their relationship, making it one of the very few romantic comedies to be Oscar-nominated since 2000, alongside David O’Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and 2002’s About a Boy starring Hugh Grant. The Big Sick is now considered to be one of the greatest rom-coms ever made and is second only to Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934) on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the best romantic comedies. The film’s success seems to have coincidentally begun a rom-com renaissance, a string of films that, although not as acclaimed as The Big Sick, are original, charming and prove to cinema snobs that the genre can indeed be as fruitful as the other main draws. In fact, just this year Michael Showalter went on to direct The Lovebirds, again collaborating with Kumail Nanjiani to craft another entertaining romantic comedy complete with a fun mystery and an action twist. Other films that contributed to the recent uprising include Always Be My Maybe (2019), Long Shot (2019) starring Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron and the indie film Plus One (2019). All three were, of course, successful and well-received. One reason that recent rom-coms have been so fortunate is that they are particularly modern. For example, in 2018, two romantic comedies were released that both reached milestones in diversity - Love, Simon and Crazy Rich Asians. The former, directed by Greg Berlanti and based on a young adult novel, was notable for being the first film by a major studio to focus on a gay teen romance. Critics praised it for its diverse cast and many even went as far as to compare it with the films of legendary director John Hughes. Crazy Rich Asians was the first film by a major Hollywood studio to feature a majority cast of Asian descent in a modern setting since the early nineties. It was also well received by audiences but criticised for its casting of biracial actors over fully ethically Chinese ones. Despite the backlash, it was still nominated for two Golden Globes. Another theme that links a multitude of these new rom-coms is the increase in online film distribution. Recently, in the era of franchise filmmaking and streaming services, romantic comedies are becoming less successful at the box office, but significantly more successful on streamers such as Netflix. In the last few years, Netflix has produced a tonne of romantic comedies, usually geared towards a teenage audience, such as The Kissing Booth (2018) and The Perfect Date (2019). They are, in almost every case, very successful on the service (as far as we know, because Netflix reports their own numbers) and are rewatched by a third of people that see them. Nonetheless, these films are routinely panned by critics, and they represent the crowd-pleasing nature of the genre that has made them so commercially profitable, but not particularly creative or relevant. However, Netflix has also produced a couple of rom-coms that have been critically praised, including Always Be My Maybe (2019) and the underappreciated Set It Up (2018), starring Zoey Deutch. Another streamer, Hulu (available in the US only) was responsible for releasing one of this year’s most talked-about movies, Palm Springs (2020). Even The Big Sick was distributed via Amazon Prime. It definitely seems like the future of romantic comedy is at home, on your television. This way, the films get a lot more attention because in cinemas rom-coms are often drowned out by the constant supply of superhero movies. It’s clear that streaming services are playing a massive part in the revival of the romantic comedy, producing a selection of fresh content despite their lasting commitment to the sameness that has plagued the genre for years. 2020, which has suffered a lack of new movies, has still managed to contribute some brilliant rom-coms, including Palm Springs, which is in many people’s lists of the best films of the year so far. Others include previously mentioned The Lovebirds (also distributed by Netflix), and The Broken Hearts Gallery which is still in cinemas, depending on where you are in the world. We can only hope that this renaissance lasts, because opinions could change towards the genre and more of this type of film could be recognised.
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Back in the beginning of 2018, director Danny Boyle was hired to direct the latest film in the multi-billion dollar James Bond franchise, then only known as Bond 25. However, due to creative differences, Boyle exited the project and MGM had to find a new director fast in order to meet their planned release date of November 2019. Cary Joji Fukunaga was hired a month later, and an entirely new script was written. This setback meant that the film was indeed pushed to April 2020, where it would kick off the summer movie season with a bang and inevitably make up to a billion dollars at the box office… right?
Bond 25 filmed for six months in 2019, an unusually long amount of time even for a blockbuster of its scale. This was largely due to various incidents that occured on set, including an injury to James Bond himself, Daniel Craig’s ankle, which required surgery, as well as damage to the 007 stage at Pinewood Studios after a controlled explosion went awry. However, despite the long shoot, No Time To Die, as it was now known, was still on track to meet its April release date. At the time, the studio probably considered these events minor inconveniences in the development of their next blockbuster. However, little did they know that 2020 would become a virus-infested, economically devastating, dumpster fire of a year. In December 2019, the first trailer for No Time To Die was released, with fans excited to see Daniel Craig’s final film as the iconic character of 007. To this day that first trailer has over 17 million views on YouTube, partly due to its extended lifespan after the delays that the film has suffered. A few months later, in February, Billie Eilish’s theme song (also named No Time To Die) was released and debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart. Everything was pointing to a successful and streamlined release but with just a couple of months until the big day, a situation was developing in Wuhan, China that would have a massive impact not only on Bond, but Hollywood as we know it. Still determined to release No Time To Die in April, MGM encountered their first obstacle when their planned premiere in Beijing and the following publicity tour in the surrounding cities was cancelled, due to cinemas being closed indefinitely to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. In the following weeks, the virus spread rapidly across the world, which prompted MGM, Universal and Eon Productions to postpone the release of No Time To Die after a “thorough evaluation of the theatrical marketplace,” making it the first major film to be delayed due to the pandemic. The new release date was November 12, 2020, which would apparently ensure that cinemas in major international markets such as China, South Korea and France - where Bond films make a lot of their money - would be once again fully operational. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the initial delay of No Time To Die cost MGM $30-50 million in wasted marketing costs. After months of lockdown all over the world and countless films being delayed or moved to various streaming services, many countries started to, slowly but surely, ease their restrictions. Cinemas, however, uncertain whether enough new films would be released for them to show, refused to open until a major blockbuster committed to a release date. This led to Tenet, the latest film from Christopher Nolan which had initially been set for a July 2020 release but had been continuously pushed back, to be the first major film to release in cinemas globally ‘post-pandemic.’ A handful of other films followed, such as Fox’s X-Men horror spinoff The New Mutants and romantic comedy The Broken Hearts Gallery. For a short while, the movie industry was seemingly saved. It became increasingly evident that these films were not making as much money as previously expected, moviegoers simply weren’t turning out due to the pandemic despite the measures that cinemas had put into place. With most studios choosing to move their biggest films to 2021, the theatrical release schedule for the rest of 2020 was incredibly sparse. The films that were left had all moved to November and December, leaving cinemas clinging to life after being led to believe that studios would bite the bullet and release their movies. Nevertheless, MGM and Universal kept faith in their November date and once again restarted their marketing push for No Time To Die, releasing a new trailer, a multitude of posters and a music video, among other things. Then, throughout September, COVID cases began to rise once again in many countries, including the UK, France and the United States (which never really got over the first wave due to some questionable leadership), though most cinemas remained open, trying their very hardest to gain some sort of income after recent underperformance. With almost every other major blockbuster departing 2020 altogether, No Time To Die was looking like the most likely contender to become the new Tenet and give cinemas some much-needed revenue, while accepting the likely box office loss. With its second marketing campaign in full swing, many doubted that MGM and Universal could afford another significant delay. However, in October, as the (virtual) press tour for the film began, No Time To Die was again postponed, this time moving to April 2021 - a full year after initially planned when Fukunaga was hired. No Time To Die’s latest move has had a variety of consequences. Shortly after the second delay, Cineworld announced that they would close their cinemas in the UK and the US indefinitely - saying that 007’s latest move was “the last straw.” Many articles began to pop up in publications such as The Telegraph and The Guardian that appeared to flat out blame No Time To Die for the ‘death of cinematic exhibition.’ Of course, many other cinema chains have been struggling due to the pandemic, with American theater chain AMC reporting a massive $2.2 billion loss for just the first quarter of 2020, and MGM’s decision to postpone Bond 25 once again cannot have helped their situation. Another thing that this delay impacts is the film itself, and the very studios that made it. Assuming that there are still cinemas to show No Time To Die when it is eventually released, they will already have lost potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing costs. The previous Bond film, Spectre, grossed just under $900 million worldwide. I think it’s safe to say that No Time To Die will struggle very much to replicate that amount if it does indeed release in April 2021, especially when you subtract the money already wasted on previous marketing, as well as the cost of an inevitable third marketing run. When we also take into account the huge chunk of the audience that may not be willing to go to the cinema due to the pandemic, and that some major international markets may still be closed, No Time To Die could be a catastrophic failure for MGM, Universal and therefore Eon Productions. Three years ago, after the release of Spectre, five studios entered a bidding war for the distribution rights to the James Bond franchise, when the previous deal with Sony expired. The result being that MGM would distribute under it’s United Artists Releasing banner in the US, and Universal Pictures would distribute internationally. If MGM and Universal fail to deliver a strong opening for No Time To Die, they risk losing the money-making franchise, and the owner Eon Productions could sell to someone else. This would be a big financial loss for the studios, especially for MGM, which lacks the rights to any other major film franchise. No doubt the studios are desperately looking for a solution to these problems. Recently, it was reported by Variety that MGM was looking to sell the rights to distribute No Time To Die for approximately $600 million to a streaming service. Both Netflix and Apple were apparently interested, but ultimately decided that the price was too high and too much of a risk. However, if a service was to agree to a deal like this, MGM would be off the hook. They would rake in just enough to cover those pesky marketing costs, and make somewhat of a profit. Most importantly though, they would likely retain the rights to their precious James Bond franchise. For a streamer such as Apple TV+, No Time To Die could win them a massive amount of subscriptions, especially in a year defined by staying at home. Sadly, for MGM, it seems that these negotiations have came to an end, but the company is clearly interested in a release that doesn’t involve the risks of opening underwhelmingly in cinemas. However, one major obstacle to this approach is whether producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson at Eon Productions, who have explicit control of the franchise, would approve the sale. Broccoli has previously expressed that she wants No Time To Die to debut in cinemas, and releasing the film on streaming could set a dangerous precedent for the franchise going forward. Another potential barrier to a deal like this would be the many companies that have agreed to product placement and promotional partnerships who may not be happy about the film not getting the big screen treatment. So, it seems like for now, the people behind No Time To Die’s release are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Clearly, not everything has gone to plan for No Time To Die. As audiences thirst for a new blockbuster, it’s unclear which film will bite the bullet and release in cinemas, could it be Wonder Woman 1984 this Christmas? Only time will tell, but the latest Bond film will need to pull off something impressive if it’s going to be successful, as a third attempt at marketing the film could add tens of millions of dollars to the already high costs associated with it. People have already began talking about who’s going to be the next James Bond, MGM and Universal can only hope that Daniel Craig’s last hurrah in the role doesn’t become old news before it even sees the light of day... |
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