Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway in "Bride Wars"
Recently, chick flicks have been taking a beating at the box office, and they’ve suffered harsh words from critics. For example, Bride Wars, led by rom-com superstars Kate Hudson (of the 2005 chick flick fave How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) and Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada) should have been a massive hit; it did reasonably well with a $21 million weekend opening, but it received a pounding from movie reviewers. Plus, 27 Dresses, which opened in a similar slot the previous year, swept up $23 million and managed to gross more over its entire run than Bride Wars, even though Katherine Heigl and James Marsden arguably have less star power and box office draw.
As for recent releases, He’s Just Not That Into Youwas a hit, but it wasn’t really a typical rom-com chick flick- it was more of a romantic drama, a weird ensemble hybrid. Confessions of a Shopaholic fits into the typical rom-com mold, but it was a relative box office failure.
Also, there appears to be no major romantic comedies, or so-called chick flicks, lined up in the immediate future. The popularity of Judd Apatow movies has changed the comedymovie market, and it is moving from romantic comedies to more guy-centric, rowdy and raunchy humor- see the recent success of I Love You, Man- and to the comedy of Tyler Perry- see the recent success of Madea Goes to Jail. What does this mean? It appears the romantic comedy has fallen on hard times; more serious chick flicks may be thriving, but fluffy fare hasn’t been making a blip on the radar. It’s a shame because a good dose of laugh-heavy, optimistic, girly romantic comedies can uplift in dreary economic times when people are showing up in droves to movie theaters for affordable entertainment.
