Me Before You

MOVIE #1,915 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 08.21.24 As previously mentioned, I saw Thea Sharrock’s Wicked Little Letters in Allentown and so that prompted me to watch her other three movies. This one is the first. I would describe Me Before You as ‘Lifetime with a budget’ core, or ‘film my parents would especially love’ core. This just leans into impossible sappiness with every passing minute. But I still have a soft spot for this kind of thing (I don't know why — I’m my parents’ child in the end, I suppose).

One thing I’d like to note is the mysterious box office number for this film. It apparently gross over $200 million, but ¾‘s of that were from the international market. So I did a little digging to see who in the world was watching this romcom. Basically, it did well all over the world, grossing over a million dollars in twenty different countries, making over $20 million in Brazil and Germany each. I’m not sure if I’ll ever understand the mass appeal of something like this, but it certainly seems to be part of a trend. Another 2016 romcom, Bridget Jones's Baby, did even better, earning $187 million in global markets (against just $24 million in North America).

I don’t why this fascinates me, but it seems to be a recent phenomenon. Just googling two random, successful 2008 romc-oms (Definitely, Maybe and Forgetting Sarah Marshall) both grossed under $100 million with about 75% of each total coming from domestic ticket sales. But the biggest romcom of the last year (Sidney Sweeney’s Anyone But You) pulled in over $200 with a good chunk (over 60%) from overseas moviegoers.

The only conclusion we can make here is that the rest of the world is ready to love and laugh, while America and Canada just want to self-implode with hatred and anger. Checks out?

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,914 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,916 ⫸

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Me Before You is a 2016 romantic drama film directed by Thea Sharrock in her directorial debut and adapted by author Jojo Moyes from her 2012 novel of the same name. The film stars Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Janet McTeer, Charles Dance, and Brendan Coyle. The film was shot in various historic locations across the UK, including Pembroke Castle in Wales and Chenies Manor House in Buckinghamshire, England. Released on 3 June 2016 in the United Kingdom and North America, the film received mixed reviews and grossed $208 million worldwide. It was released on May 23, 2016.