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Movies & TV

07th Mar 2023

Michael Fassbender to star in the “most expensive romcom ever made”

Rory Cashin

most expensive romcom

You can’t put a price tag on a great romantic comedy…

The most expensive romcom ever made was back in 2010, when How Do You Know cost a whopping $120 million to produce. Part of the reason for that is the cast – Reese Witherspoon, Jack Nicholson, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd – and writer/director James L. Brooks (The Simpsons, As Good As It Gets), with the five of those alone racking up a combined $50 million price tag.

That movie ended up being a massive financial flop (less than $49 million worldwide), critical flop (31% on Rotten Tomatoes), and James L. Brooks hasn’t wrote or directed another film since then. However, the movie’s time atop the expensive romcom list is about to come to an end.

When it comes to romantic comedies, writer/director Nancy Meyers is a bit of an institution. Over the last few decades, she has written the scripts for and/or helmed the likes of Father Of The Bride, The Parent Trap, What Women Want, Something’s Gotta Give, The Holiday and It’s Complicated.

Meyers hasn’t written or directed a feature since 2015’s The Intern with Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway (which was a low-key box office hit), but now she’s making her comeback with Paris Paramount, and has amassed a very impressive cast for the new comedy: Michael Fassbender, Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz and Owen Wilson.

The movie will be a Netflix production, with Deadline reporting that none of the actors’ deals have been cemented yet, which means the budget has actually yet to be confirmed. Deadline stated that “sources tell us a budget exceeding $100M”, but multiple outlets have now reported that the budget is said to be between $130m and $150m, which would officially make it the most expensive romcom ever made.

The plot is said to revolve around filmmaking duo who are forced to reunite on set after falling in and out of love with one another, which is said to be semi-autobiographical for Meyers.

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