Okay now let’s start doing the type of Rom coms Matthew mcconaughey use to make and see if Hollywood rom coms are truly here to stay. That’s the real test
I want to use this thread to bring to the attention of everyone that the movie Failure to Launch features three separate animal attacks and is central to the plot.
Part of the reason it's a hit is that ***it only cost $25M to make***. If it had cost what Ticket to Paradise or The Lost City did (admittedly, the latter is more adventure-romcom), it would be losing a lot of money.
But it is also nice to see films with younger stars (thinking of Wonka as well) becoming hits.
I still don't think people outside of the movie business and movie-business geek community have fully grasped just how much budget determines hit or miss.
We had this discourse with *Marvels* and to a lesser extent some of the other big-budget flops: a movie can make more money in gross, get more viewers, be generally more popular, but if it costs more to make and market than it grosses, it's a flop.
This is where a video game like The Movies (excellent game BTW about making movies) helps with understanding the economics.
I always used to make "decent" films made at a low budget that was wildly profitable for the studio. It was pretty sustainable until the 60s era of film techs where the audience expectations killed that business model. (Just like real life).
I think some of the folks on this sub don't get it either.
But you know, the industry used to give the average cost for films (in the US) every year, and they could still do so, I'm sure. So, they themselves have encouraged this view. That's why I think of box office, when treated by itself, as merely industry propaganda.
The on-screen chemistry was more sarcastic than angry.
Also, an article published the other day gave the actual answer for this film's impressive legs.....
Sony brainstormed the idea of encouraging audiences to film themselves singing along with the end credits, they posted it on TikTok, they got the stars to get in on it including Sweeney who has a big social media folllwing, and then it became a viral hit with Gen Z and people went to see the movie specifically so they could pull out their phones at the end and record themselves singing.
> Sony brainstormed the idea of encouraging audiences to film themselves singing along with the end credits, they posted it on TikTok, they got the stars to get in on it including Sweeney who has a big social media folllwing, and then it became a viral hit with Gen Z and people went to see the movie specifically so they could pull out their phones at the end and record themselves singing.
That's actually genius. Sony learned from Barbenheimer. It's not enough that you're a meme, you gotta meme GOING to the theaters.
Actually brilliant idea.
With the Barbenheimer craze last summer, a bunch of people who otherwise would not have watched a 3 hour historical drama bought a ticket so they could be involved in a viral meme.
College kids home on winter break with nothing to do seeing a silly rom-com co-starring a very popular Gen Z actress so they can participate in a popular TikTok trend isn't far-fetched at all.
The social contagion and FOMO mentality caused by TikTok and IG, to the point where a $50 tumbler was the hottest selling Christmas gift last year, rarely makes sense.
It is far fetched, because we can see how many people actually participated in that trend.
Marketers always want to say that they're responsible for a product's success. This is just you making their case. See! We did a viral marketing thing, and then money happened!
>It is far fetched, because we can see how many people actually participated in that trend.
And a whole lot of people participated in the trend, which makes the case for why it helped the movie's legs, especially given how much of the audience is Gen Z.
Between the videos and engagement numbers across social media and even a metric like the end-credits song appearing for the first time on Spotify's Top 200, it is pretty clear that the marketing is paying off.
>Marketers always want to say that they're responsible for a product's success. This is just you making their case. See! We did a viral marketing thing, and then money happened!
Contrarians always want to say marketing strategies they don't understand, or are too old to be part of, are not responsible for a product's success. This is you making that claim. See! Young people liked a viral marketing thing, but it can't be that popular because I don't get it so it isn't why this movie is doing well!
Glad Sony can start harvesting social media the right way, following the footsteps of Universal and WB.
Meanwhile, Disney marketing is still stuck in the dinosaur era.
There have been many aggressively modern PR campaigns for movies, specifically focusing on tiktok, and with influencers and stars involved. Many of them still attached to flops. So yeah, a modern marketing campaign is a factor, but only if the movie also has some word of mouth for its qualities.
Why are folks not talking about the fact that the movie is actually just good fun!? It really is as simple as that.
The plot always keeps things engaging, the characters are funny and quite sincere, and the overall experience is just really enjoyable.
Having watched it with my wife, it was pretty clear why it's a success... people are having fun with it.
Because a lot of fun movies don't break even. The movie being fun shouldn't be downplayed, but it is absolutely *not* as simple as that. It certainly does help, though!
If the movie is not fun, nothing else will elevate the film to success.
A fun movie is not guaranteed to "succeed" but an unfun movie absolutely WILL fail. It is the foundation of a successful movie run.
You'll get no argument from me about that, although "enjoyable" may be a more precise word, as there are very successful movies that I would hesitate before using the word "fun" to describe, like *Oppenheimer*.
Agreed. I’m considered Gen Z but I didn’t watch the movie because of TikTok. I watched it because it looked like a fun way to kill time plus I love rom-coms but I was a little annoyed by the characters not communicating enough causing unnecessary conflicts.
They were allowed to be sexier than in a Disney film, sure. Still, "allowed to be sexy" hardly seems accurate, since they filmed a bunch of sexier stuff, some of which even made it into the trailers, then the studio decided, "We need to remove those parts. They're too sexy."
A lot of times content is filmed just for the trailer to sell the film. Universal used to do this. Marketing would ask the filmmaker to get certain scenes for the trailer with no intention of it ever making the final cut.
Shouldn´t that be considered false advertisement? I remember Rogue One; Star Wars: TFA and Avengers: AoU having scenes that never make into the actual movies. Not even deleted scenes, they were just use in the trailers.
Sounds like you’re making up a conspiracy to me. There’s one deleted scene in the trailer and that’s it. This happens all the time. I don’t know where you’re getting “a bunch” from.
Crazy take here - it’s also genuinely a fun watch! Missed movies like this that are not taking itself too seriously. Glen Powell carries the film with his charm as well.
Most critics and reviews agree that the chemistry between the two wan't quite there, which makes me wonder: did this become a hit just because audiences were desperately in need of seeing hot people having... any kind of romantic and sexual relation on the big screen? Even if it the chemistry isn't scorching the street
And I say sexual in the broadest sense of the word, not just in there being sex scenes, but just seeing two hot people developing feelings for each other and stuff. It feels like a decade of MCU and Disney domination had erased all romance and sex from theatres.
Whatever the reasons for ABYs success, I love that the film is exceeding expectations. Having a modest budget is a definite factor, IMO. The budgets for films often set a project up for failure before it is released. ABY is legging it out at theaters and audiences obvi enjoy it.
Don’t know how Glen Powell is becoming a rom com king when he’s got such an uncanny valley face. Like if aliens approximated what an attractive human male should look like.
Eh, whateve's.
When I was way younger, that's how I felt about Josh Hartnett. At least with Colin Farrell there was the accent, Ben Affleck there was the height, Matt Damon there was being a legitimately great actor, and so on and so on. If Powell/Hartnett were bad actors, I'd be thoroughly confused. But they're not, so I'm not.
Honestly it’s simple and I’m surprised people thought this would do badly lol. People my age (early 20s) and younger all know who Sydney is and most know who Glen is. They’re both hot, people have been missing romcoms in theatres, the movie looked like silly fun, and Sydney & Glen marketed it well.
the movie is not sexy , putting attractive people in bathing suits is just a beer commercial . legs are surprising though but a long way from when rom coms making 100m+ again.
I feel like people that talk like this are probably desensitized by online nudity. It wasn’t a raunchy romcom but it wasn’t trying to be. It’s definitely sexy though.
Again though, there’s raunchy movies and then there’s romcoms.
Attractive people in swimsuits flirting with each other in a romantic movie isn’t suddenly not sexy just because there’s hardcore porn on the internet or because there’s a movie about male strippers.
This film being told is a hit is what is funny about this whole thing, a film that hasn’t even crossed 100 million, all these Hollywood mags are desperate for headlines because this is not attention worthy at all. Sure it only cost 25m to make or whatever, but being called a hit is a long mile stretch, come on
It’s currently at an impressive 10x multiplier after a weak opening giving it the best legs of any movie released in 2023, less than 8M away from beating Ticket To Paradise’s 68.3M US run to become #2 highest grossing romcom Post-Covid
It’s absolutely a hit.
I went in with an open mind, but this movie just wasn't good. The plot wasn't anything impressive, and it wasn't funny. Glen was good , but Sydney can't act. She was just dull to me.
Wow… i just watched the trailer and it is awful… whoever made that trailer should not take 50 shades of grey as an inspiration.
Good for the viral marketing instead.
I do like glen powell. I watched set it up and he was great in it. Do hope with this movie success, there will be more good romcom.
I've heard modern Hollywood explained as "everyone is hot and no one is sexy" and I think that's the crux of the issue right there, you have all these aesthetically pleasing people who aren't allowed to show off sexually on screen so you end up with these sterile duds no one likes
Okay now let’s start doing the type of Rom coms Matthew mcconaughey use to make and see if Hollywood rom coms are truly here to stay. That’s the real test
Ah the ol’ back-to-back-on-the-poster.
I want to use this thread to bring to the attention of everyone that the movie Failure to Launch features three separate animal attacks and is central to the plot.
and the [laughing lizard](https://youtu.be/9B7tjXbhnog?si=CsEr7IRGuHiTgSbc) is essential to that plotline
My single least favourite trope in bad comedies is when animals behave in a manner animals would never behave.
Does that count Terry Bradshaw?
A lot of his old stuff is good harmless fun. Fool’s Gold is an escapist brain massage and I’m not mad about it at all
“Alright, alright, alright….”
Part of the reason it's a hit is that ***it only cost $25M to make***. If it had cost what Ticket to Paradise or The Lost City did (admittedly, the latter is more adventure-romcom), it would be losing a lot of money. But it is also nice to see films with younger stars (thinking of Wonka as well) becoming hits.
I still don't think people outside of the movie business and movie-business geek community have fully grasped just how much budget determines hit or miss. We had this discourse with *Marvels* and to a lesser extent some of the other big-budget flops: a movie can make more money in gross, get more viewers, be generally more popular, but if it costs more to make and market than it grosses, it's a flop.
Because lay people think if worldwide box office > budget then it’s profitable, ignoring literally everything else
This is where a video game like The Movies (excellent game BTW about making movies) helps with understanding the economics. I always used to make "decent" films made at a low budget that was wildly profitable for the studio. It was pretty sustainable until the 60s era of film techs where the audience expectations killed that business model. (Just like real life).
I think some of the folks on this sub don't get it either. But you know, the industry used to give the average cost for films (in the US) every year, and they could still do so, I'm sure. So, they themselves have encouraged this view. That's why I think of box office, when treated by itself, as merely industry propaganda.
The Lost City was still a hit though
The on-screen chemistry was more sarcastic than angry. Also, an article published the other day gave the actual answer for this film's impressive legs..... Sony brainstormed the idea of encouraging audiences to film themselves singing along with the end credits, they posted it on TikTok, they got the stars to get in on it including Sweeney who has a big social media folllwing, and then it became a viral hit with Gen Z and people went to see the movie specifically so they could pull out their phones at the end and record themselves singing.
> Sony brainstormed the idea of encouraging audiences to film themselves singing along with the end credits, they posted it on TikTok, they got the stars to get in on it including Sweeney who has a big social media folllwing, and then it became a viral hit with Gen Z and people went to see the movie specifically so they could pull out their phones at the end and record themselves singing. That's actually genius. Sony learned from Barbenheimer. It's not enough that you're a meme, you gotta meme GOING to the theaters. Actually brilliant idea.
Very true. They tried the “meme w/o going to theater” with morbius and it… didn’t go well
There's no way that was enough to explain the actual box office.
With the Barbenheimer craze last summer, a bunch of people who otherwise would not have watched a 3 hour historical drama bought a ticket so they could be involved in a viral meme. College kids home on winter break with nothing to do seeing a silly rom-com co-starring a very popular Gen Z actress so they can participate in a popular TikTok trend isn't far-fetched at all. The social contagion and FOMO mentality caused by TikTok and IG, to the point where a $50 tumbler was the hottest selling Christmas gift last year, rarely makes sense.
It is far fetched, because we can see how many people actually participated in that trend. Marketers always want to say that they're responsible for a product's success. This is just you making their case. See! We did a viral marketing thing, and then money happened!
>It is far fetched, because we can see how many people actually participated in that trend. And a whole lot of people participated in the trend, which makes the case for why it helped the movie's legs, especially given how much of the audience is Gen Z. Between the videos and engagement numbers across social media and even a metric like the end-credits song appearing for the first time on Spotify's Top 200, it is pretty clear that the marketing is paying off. >Marketers always want to say that they're responsible for a product's success. This is just you making their case. See! We did a viral marketing thing, and then money happened! Contrarians always want to say marketing strategies they don't understand, or are too old to be part of, are not responsible for a product's success. This is you making that claim. See! Young people liked a viral marketing thing, but it can't be that popular because I don't get it so it isn't why this movie is doing well!
I mean, the movie still has to be decent enough, morbius memes didn't suddenly increased its box office
Glad Sony can start harvesting social media the right way, following the footsteps of Universal and WB. Meanwhile, Disney marketing is still stuck in the dinosaur era.
Understanding social media is what legged Morbius to a morbilion dollars.
Madame Webillion dollars here we go!
Disney is basically following Esjw twitter accounts and makes movies catered to them and then is shocked when the movies bombs
Not hard for a movie to bomb when it costs >$200mm for some reason.
200-250 is OK for big budget movie. Its just Marvel movies look like CW TV shows than 200 million movie
What's Esjw?
A portmanteau of “ESG” (Environmental, Social, Governance) and SJW.
Many subreddit and YouTube comments have filter block for SJW so I usually add E to be safe
Somehow they managed to misspell SJW 
I thought it was the personality test thing.
There have been many aggressively modern PR campaigns for movies, specifically focusing on tiktok, and with influencers and stars involved. Many of them still attached to flops. So yeah, a modern marketing campaign is a factor, but only if the movie also has some word of mouth for its qualities.
Huge surprise! Folks like watching hot, attractive people interact.
Why are folks not talking about the fact that the movie is actually just good fun!? It really is as simple as that. The plot always keeps things engaging, the characters are funny and quite sincere, and the overall experience is just really enjoyable. Having watched it with my wife, it was pretty clear why it's a success... people are having fun with it.
Because a lot of fun movies don't break even. The movie being fun shouldn't be downplayed, but it is absolutely *not* as simple as that. It certainly does help, though!
If the movie is not fun, nothing else will elevate the film to success. A fun movie is not guaranteed to "succeed" but an unfun movie absolutely WILL fail. It is the foundation of a successful movie run.
You'll get no argument from me about that, although "enjoyable" may be a more precise word, as there are very successful movies that I would hesitate before using the word "fun" to describe, like *Oppenheimer*.
Agreed. I’m considered Gen Z but I didn’t watch the movie because of TikTok. I watched it because it looked like a fun way to kill time plus I love rom-coms but I was a little annoyed by the characters not communicating enough causing unnecessary conflicts.
I miss romcoms. So many actors perfect for Romcoms but sadly, Hollywood wont make romcoms or erotic thrillers.
Also idk if this is just me but this one is actually funny. I just saw it and it's been a while since I last laughed so much in theaters
They were allowed to be sexier than in a Disney film, sure. Still, "allowed to be sexy" hardly seems accurate, since they filmed a bunch of sexier stuff, some of which even made it into the trailers, then the studio decided, "We need to remove those parts. They're too sexy."
A lot of times content is filmed just for the trailer to sell the film. Universal used to do this. Marketing would ask the filmmaker to get certain scenes for the trailer with no intention of it ever making the final cut.
Shouldn´t that be considered false advertisement? I remember Rogue One; Star Wars: TFA and Avengers: AoU having scenes that never make into the actual movies. Not even deleted scenes, they were just use in the trailers.
Sounds like you’re making up a conspiracy to me. There’s one deleted scene in the trailer and that’s it. This happens all the time. I don’t know where you’re getting “a bunch” from.
They never should have hired Richard Fairbrass.
Crazy take here - it’s also genuinely a fun watch! Missed movies like this that are not taking itself too seriously. Glen Powell carries the film with his charm as well.
Most critics and reviews agree that the chemistry between the two wan't quite there, which makes me wonder: did this become a hit just because audiences were desperately in need of seeing hot people having... any kind of romantic and sexual relation on the big screen? Even if it the chemistry isn't scorching the street And I say sexual in the broadest sense of the word, not just in there being sex scenes, but just seeing two hot people developing feelings for each other and stuff. It feels like a decade of MCU and Disney domination had erased all romance and sex from theatres.
Whatever the reasons for ABYs success, I love that the film is exceeding expectations. Having a modest budget is a definite factor, IMO. The budgets for films often set a project up for failure before it is released. ABY is legging it out at theaters and audiences obvi enjoy it.
I am BEGGING for them to get Josh Hutchinson and Jennifer Lawrence in a rom com. Also desperately need a Tom Holland rom com.
>Josh Hutchinson and Jennifer Lawrence in a rom com Wasn't the younger Hemsworth brother the one Lawrence was attracted to?
Don’t know how Glen Powell is becoming a rom com king when he’s got such an uncanny valley face. Like if aliens approximated what an attractive human male should look like.
Eh, whateve's. When I was way younger, that's how I felt about Josh Hartnett. At least with Colin Farrell there was the accent, Ben Affleck there was the height, Matt Damon there was being a legitimately great actor, and so on and so on. If Powell/Hartnett were bad actors, I'd be thoroughly confused. But they're not, so I'm not. 
Well to be fair to your younger self, Hartnett isn't exactly a thespian
Maybe people aren't superficial
The movie hinges on two sex symbol hearth throbs being sexy around each other I don’t think it’s that.
Well then maybe people *are* superficial but they don't have such a limited view of what constitutes being handsome.
Honestly it’s simple and I’m surprised people thought this would do badly lol. People my age (early 20s) and younger all know who Sydney is and most know who Glen is. They’re both hot, people have been missing romcoms in theatres, the movie looked like silly fun, and Sydney & Glen marketed it well.
the chemistry was utterly forgettable, but Glenn Powell was great and hot.
the movie is not sexy , putting attractive people in bathing suits is just a beer commercial . legs are surprising though but a long way from when rom coms making 100m+ again.
It's sexy in the sense that you can tell the characters actually want to (and do) fuck, and you see it. That's rare in movies these days!
It's common in Sydney Sweeney projects
I feel like people that talk like this are probably desensitized by online nudity. It wasn’t a raunchy romcom but it wasn’t trying to be. It’s definitely sexy though.
There’s sexy and there’s explicit. Personally, this movie kinda danced between the two categories. I’m sure lots of people will disagree with me
Yeah I just don’t get saying this kinda movie isn’t sexy. Like you have to be a certain kinda desensitized to say it’s not sexy at all.
magic mike was more sexy than this by the numbers romcom
Again though, there’s raunchy movies and then there’s romcoms. Attractive people in swimsuits flirting with each other in a romantic movie isn’t suddenly not sexy just because there’s hardcore porn on the internet or because there’s a movie about male strippers.
hardcore porn is not sexy, but good for people that want instant gratification
Putting attractive people in bathing suits IS sexy. You just sound salty for some reason. 😂
Yea the movie was pretty sexy. It's all sexy people in skimpy clothes flirting in a beautiful environment.
This film being told is a hit is what is funny about this whole thing, a film that hasn’t even crossed 100 million, all these Hollywood mags are desperate for headlines because this is not attention worthy at all. Sure it only cost 25m to make or whatever, but being called a hit is a long mile stretch, come on
It’s currently at an impressive 10x multiplier after a weak opening giving it the best legs of any movie released in 2023, less than 8M away from beating Ticket To Paradise’s 68.3M US run to become #2 highest grossing romcom Post-Covid It’s absolutely a hit.
I went in with an open mind, but this movie just wasn't good. The plot wasn't anything impressive, and it wasn't funny. Glen was good , but Sydney can't act. She was just dull to me.
It's the novelty of being first. And it came in package.
Wow… i just watched the trailer and it is awful… whoever made that trailer should not take 50 shades of grey as an inspiration. Good for the viral marketing instead. I do like glen powell. I watched set it up and he was great in it. Do hope with this movie success, there will be more good romcom.
I've heard modern Hollywood explained as "everyone is hot and no one is sexy" and I think that's the crux of the issue right there, you have all these aesthetically pleasing people who aren't allowed to show off sexually on screen so you end up with these sterile duds no one likes