So will “Anyone But You” get a sequel after its surprising success? Maybe, but as Tom Rothman says in the article, there could be another way to play off the success of “Anyone But You.” After saying they’d “consider” a sequel, Rothman continued, “But I think maybe the healthiest opportunity is another original starring the two of them.” Having Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell become the new Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks certainly isn’t a bad idea, but they’ll need more vehicles to show off their crackling chemistry.
That’s why the discussion is partly about the success of “Anyone But You” and, in a larger sense, more about the future of the studio romantic comedy. After the genre experienced a huge boom in the 2000s, great studio rom-coms have become a thing of the past, with most rom-coms ending up attached to various streaming services without a proper theatrical release. So what does the team behind “Anyone But You” think?
Director Will Gluck, known for projects like “Easy A” and “Friends With Benefits,” had a pretty cynical view of the situation: “There’s one thing I know for certain: Nothing will be learned from this. I hope I’m wrong, but it’s not like, in six months get ready for a rom-com revolution every weekend. I still think people are a little hesitant to figure out why it worked.” Perhaps the secret is just that every romcom needs Powell and Sweeney flirting off-camera to keep audiences guessing.