In “Bridget Jones: Mad a Boy,” the neurotic and Love Lawn heroine doesn’t just trade cigarettes for Nicolette. She traded the big screen with Peacock, the second streaming service whose fourth entry in the franchise will debut on February 13th.
“(People) see this at home,” says Helen Fielding, author of Bridget Jones. “If you’re Bridget’s generation, it’s going to come with a bottle of wine and an ice cream tub. For Gen Z, it’s going to come with a lot of minerals, potions and slippers. But it’s going to look at the sofa. It’s a good movie.”
It shows how “the madness about the boy” is left to streaming “the madness about the boy” how far romantic comedy has fallen in 24 years since Bridget first captured the minds of viewers. When Bridget Jones’ Diary appeared in theaters in 2001, the genre was in Zenith along with Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Sandra Bullock and of course Bridget’s own Rene Zelluger. However, over the past decade and changes, the studio has at least theatricalized out of the ROM-COM game. Now, when Zellweger or Witherspoon (the latest film, “Cordially Invited” debuted on Prime Video this month) falls in love on screen, it is usually a streaming service that pays for the incident.
“Bloom is off the roses of rom-com,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore. “There was a time when they couldn’t miss, but then there were absolutely terrible numbers and streaming changed things. Now you need spectacles to take your audience to the theatre. is.”
In the spectacle, Dergarabedian refers to Marvel Adventures or Christopher Nolan Epics. And he is right to suggest that the genre has become overly stylized, such as “Home Again” in 2017, “I Feel Pretty” in 2018, and “Not Romantic” in 2019. . Even the 2016 “Bridget Jones Baby” was bombed in the US, earning just $24.2 million. In comparison, the original won $71 million domestically, while the 2004 sequel generated $40 million.
That chilly reception convinced NBCuniversal to reconsider Bridget’s strategy for the fourth film adventure. “Bridget Jones: The Crazy Boy” is not heading for streaming anywhere. The series will be performed in theaters at international box office revenue, a consistent commercial smash. WIT: For all of the third Bridget films, overseas revenue accounts for 79% to 89% of all ticket sales, at a rate of nearly $200 million outside the US.
“The Crazy Boy” cost $50 million to produce. At this price, studios will have to spend between $40 million and $50 million on global theatre marketing fees, according to rival executives with similar production knowledge. That requires Bridget Jones 4 to collect at least $40 million domestically to justify these spending. With its back envelope mathematics in mind, NBCUniversal lit a film for the American Peacock in green and made a theatrical release in other parts of the world.
“That’s not one of the stories you’ve heard. I’m so mad!” says film director Michael Morris. “I hope they’ll release anywhere, but I knew this would be a Peacock release in America.”
Streaming economics helps keep ROM-Coms alive, introducing a new generation to these films. Without spending tens of millions needed to sell big screen products, Amazon Prime Video supports Anne Hathaway’s “Your Ideas”, Netflix creates Amy Schumer’s “A Little Pregnancy”, and stars’ power, I know the combination of humor and mind. It stands out with the new release of endless scrolls.
“The threshold for what you make on streaming is lower than the theatrical ones. And they don’t have to be very expensive,” he said, “I’m a bit pregnant,” and “Book Club.” ” says Alex Sachs, producer of “It Ends With Us.” “The positivity of a streamer is that the more you make these movies, the more likely you have to make a good movie.”
However, ROM-Coms fans retain hope for a big screen revival. And some recent examples have beaten trends and worked well in cinemas such as 2018’s “Crazy Rich Asian.” Sweeney, and in the process, he portrays the Tiktok generation. Jennifer Lawrence’s R-Rate “No Hard Emotions,” Brock and Channing Tatum’s “Lost City,” and Roberts and George Clooney’s “Tickets to Paradise” also bring to mind the box-office appeal of those A-listers. I used it. He made his simultaneously debut in Peacock, like Jennifer Lopez’s “Marry Me,” and there were some injustice, like Billy Eichner’s “Bros.” However, that short list covers almost all theatre rom-com runs over the past six months.
“At some point, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” says Scott Meslow, author of “Hollywood With Love: The Rise and Right from the romantic comedy,” says “We’ve got these films in theaters.” How do you know that if you don’t release it and send it to a streaming service?”
Meslow believes people can fall in love with this genre if it is presented again as a theatrical suggestion rather than a disposable streaming film.
“Five years later, will people talk about “Hot Frosty” as they talk about the first ‘Bridget Jones’? “He says. “People are fascinated by these stories when they are unique and well-made, not just the ones at the top of the Netflix algorithm.”
Alex Ritman and Elise Shafer contributed to this report.
