Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell are confirmed to be looking for their next project after Anyone but You, which revives a beloved romantic comedy trend from the 1990s. After premiering in theaters on December 22, 2024, Anyone but You has broken several box office records and become a viral sensation thanks to its Shakespeare inspirations, use of Natasha Bedingfield’s 2004 song “Unwritten,” and the chemistry between leads Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. While the movie’s success has led to conversations about the potential for Anyone but You 2, Sweeney and Powell have a better follow-up plan in the works.
According to Glen Powell, he and Sweeney are looking for their next movie after Anyone but You, which doesn’t seem to be a direct sequel. Rather, Top Gun: Maverick’s Powell and Euphoria’s Sweeney are reading scripts as they aim to “see what makes sense, what [they] can turn into something that audiences are going to respond to.” By trying to find their next movie unrelated to their Anyone but You characters, Powell and Sweeney are taking a page from the 1990s rom-com book that led to some of the most beloved movies of all time in this genre.
Sydney Sweeney & Glen Powell’s New Movie Collaboration Continues A Great Rom-Com “Sequel” Trend From The 1990s
Though the trend was revitalized with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the 2010s with movies like Crazy Stupid Love and La La Land, the latter was more of a romantic drama than typical rom-com fare. Consequently, Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell are more primed to fully bring back the trend repopularized in the 1990s of having two rom-com leads make “sequels” to their hit movies by reuniting in a new film. Rather than unnecessarily continuing the story of a rom-com with a direct sequel, some of the best rom-coms of the 1990s would capitalize on the lead actors’ chemistry by reuniting them for a completely different story.
Anyone But You Ending Explained: Do Ben & Bea End Up Together?
Ben and Bea fake being in love in Anyone But You, and the movie’s ending shakes up their lives in Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney’s rom-com.
The most famous examples of this trend in the 1990s involved the repeat pairings of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as well as Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. After Roberts and Gere starred in Pretty Woman in 1990, they reunited in 1999 for the rom-com Runaway Bride. Similarly, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan’s success in 1993’s Sleepless in Seattle was followed up by their pairing in the 1998 rom-com You’ve Got Mail, which outearned their previous collaboration at the box office. After Sweeney and Powell’s $200 million box office success with Anyone but You, they’re on the road to finding their own Runaway Bride or You’ve Got Mail.
Sydney Sweeney & Glen Powell’s Anyone But You Follow Up Needs 1 More Returning Factor To Work
While reuniting Sweeney and Powell for another rom-com already seems like a gold mine in the waiting, they aren’t the only figures who need to return in order to properly recreate the ‘90s rom-com trend. In addition to the two stars, their next rom-com needs Anyone but You director Will Gluck to return. In both cases for Roberts and Gere’s movies and Hanks and Ryan’s rom-coms, the directors of their original successes – Garry Marshall and Nora Ephron, respectively – also helmed their follow-ups. For Sweeney and Powell’s Anyone but You successor, Will Gluck should also return to maintain their first collaboration’s style and charm.
Anyone But You
Anyone But You is a romantic comedy by director Will Gluck starring Sydney Sweeny and Glen Powell. Sweeny and Powell star as Bea and Ben, two strangers with an incredible first date that goes sour following one incident at the tail end. Thinking the worst is behind them, the two are roped into a destination wedding in Sydney, Australia, where they’ll have to pretend to be a couple despite absolutely hating each other.
- Director
- Will Gluck
- Release Date
- December 22, 2023
- Distributor(s)
- Sony Pictures Releasing
- Writers
- Will Gluck , Ilana Wolpert
- Cast
- Sydney Sweeney , Glen Powell , Alexandra Shipp , GaTa , Hadley Robinson , Michelle Hurd , Dermot Mulroney , Darren Barnet , Rachel Griffiths
