Glen Powell’s $220 Million Shakespeare Adaptation Is Steaming Up Streaming

4 days ago 11

Glen Powell on the red carpet for Chad Powers.

Britta DeVore is a Senior Author for Collider who has been known to dabble with Reality News as well.

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When she isn't sitting behind her laptop bringing readers her hot takes on upcoming projects or keeping the dream alive in the Senior News team, Britta can usually be found outside hiking or inside behind her drum set. She currently plays in two bands, Kid Midnight and Watergate, both based in Brooklyn. An obsessive traveler, Britta loves long road trips to the South West and has a soft spot in her heart for canyons, rivers, and forests.

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If ever there were two modern movie stars who deserved to star opposite one another in a rom-com, it would be Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney. Enter filmmaker Will Gluck and Sony Pictures Releasing, who paired with the superstars to bring audiences the 2023 film, Anyone But You. Not only was the movie the kind of cozy laugh-out-loud genre feature that we’ve been missing since the classics of yesteryear, but it also took a stab at adapting one of the great plays by the Bard, with William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing serving as its base material. Now, more than two years and a huge box office haul later, the movie is enjoying a nice resurgence on streaming, where it’s taking over Hulu’s Top 15 chart in the eighth spot in the United States.

Let’s face it, after the holidays, we can all use a bit of a cinematic palate cleanser. While movies like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story are seasonal classics, it’s good to ease back into the swing of things with something that easily and carefully shifts you out of the holiday mood. Perhaps that’s why so many folks are turning to the enemies-to-lovers film in the first week of the New Year.

Following in the tracks of Much Ado About Nothing, Anyone But You follows Ben (Powell) and Bea (Sweeney), two young professionals who have an extremely cinematic meet-cute at a coffee shop and enjoy spending the day together. But after a miscommunication unfurls, they quickly separate, only to be forced to reunite again at a mutual friend’s wedding down the road. In typical rom-com fashion, sparks fly for the pair at the wedding, and they’re forced to deal with the possibility that they may really be the perfect match.

‘Anyone but You’s Shocking Box Office Wave

Ahead of its wide release, Anyone But You caught plenty of flack from critics who didn’t see a redeeming quality in the latest Shakespeare adaptation. Despite early reviews that led to a bumpy start, the movie became a box office juggernaut, earning a staggering $220 million against its $25 million production budget by the time it left cinemas. With films between them like Top Gun: Maverick, Twisters, and The Housemaid raking in money hand over fist, it’s completely understandable why a movie that combined the talents of Powell and Sweeney would amass such a fortune during its theatrical run.

Head over to Hulu now to stream Anyone But You.