Rom-com stands for romance comedy, but whatever it stands for, these movies are great! Rom-coms are stories, usually movies or novels, where good things happen to people, most of the time towards the end of the movie. These films combine romance and humor with a little fairy tale. In a rom-com, you don’t have to worry about the two main characters not ending up together, this is to help you believe that love is beautiful, and that it can really happen.
You won’t believe how old this type of movie is. The first movie about love was called Kiss, an 1896 movie that pioneered the rom-com genre. This film was done in black and white, and was an 18 second silent film that showed two people kissing. Rom-coms have come a long way since then.
Throughout the years, big Hollywood names from Elvis to John Travolta to Patrick Swayze all made rom-coms in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. These movies were consistently successful.
Then, in 1990 there was a movie called Pretty Woman which is turned 36 years old in March. It skyrocketed the rom-com genre and also Julia Roberts career. She was the queen of rom-com’s in the 90’s. Movies such as My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) , Notting Hill (1999) and Runway Bride (1999).
There were also other classic rom-coms such as Jerry Maguire (1997), and Ghost (1990) also classic to the genre. In 2018 there was a Broadway musical based on the movie Pretty Woman which was composed by 80’s rocker Bryan Adams. There were a lot of amazing love songs from Bryan Adams to Alan Jackson that are also popular. Many romcoms featured Julia Robert. She often played someone who overcoming her past. Another thing that many rom- coms have is great soundtracks, like one of Julia Robert’s movies, My Best Wedding.
Things have changed since this golden age of rom-coms. Nowadays, most movies in the theater aren’t this simple. Most of them are big action movies that have lots of sequels, and sometimes it feels like Rom-Coms are changing and going away. Hollywood has shifted its focus toward massive blockbuster franchises largely abandoning mid- budget films, where most rom-coms lived. Rom- Coms are dying because Hollywood wants to make sequels to the biggest movies.
Rom – Coms did try and make a comeback with Julia Roberts who made one in 2022 with George Clooney. This was called Two Tickets to Paradise. It was successful and it grossed $ 168.6 million worldwide.
