The 2023 rom-com flop Love Again has found new life on Netflix. A remake of the 2016 German movie SMS für Dich, the movie follows the drama that unfurls when Mira’s (Chopra Jonas) texts to her late fiancé are accidentally sent to journalist Rob (Sam Heughan), who now has that phone number and conspires with his celebrity profile subject Celine Dion (herself) to find a way to meet Mira. After premiering in theaters on May 5, it only made $12.7 million off its $9 million production budget.
Netflix has unveiled its global Top 10 chart for the week of August 28 through September 3. Despite its lukewarm theatrical reception, Love Again (2023) has made its way onto the chart in the No. 8 slot after making its Netflix debut. 2.9 million viewers accumulated a total of 5.1 million viewing hours for the movie, earning it that position below new Netflix originals including Heart of Stone and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah.
Is There Hope For the Theatrical Rom-Com?
It makes sense that Love Again is doing well on the Netflix platform, which has cultivated an audience that is hungry for rom-coms. The streaming platform has been one of modern cinema’s primary resources for the genre, putting out a consistent stream of romantic titles such as Set It Up, Your Place or Mine, Always Be My Maybe, and the To All The Boys trilogy, in addition to dozens of holiday-themed entries.
In theaters on the other hand,, the fortunes for the genre look less bright. In addition to the recent underwhelming box office for Love Again, other contemporary romantic titles have become notable flops. This includes the LGBTQ+ rom-com Bros, which notably made $14.8 million off a $22 million budget, and the period-set Mr. Malcolm’s List, which only earned $2 million worldwide.
However, a few other rom-com titles have found their way to relative success, such as the Jennifer Lopez vehicle Marry Me, which made $50.5 million off a $23 million budget. The raunchy No Hard Feelings starring Jennifer Lawrence also hit reasonably big this summer, earning $86.9 million off its $45 million budget. While neither is exactly a runaway success, these box office results could show a slow sea change for the prospects of theatrical rom-coms after Love Again.
