Realistically, there’s no justifiable timeline where a romantic comedy needs to cost $120 million, with How Do You Know setting a blueprint as to what can happen when you funnel an inordinate amount of money into what’s usually one of Hollywood’s most low risk and high reward money-making enterprises.
Of course, writer and director James L. Brooks commanding a hefty fee of his own was only the beginning of the production’s ill-judged spending, never mind the roster of expensive A-list stars he recruited to fill out the ensemble. Nancy Meyers was developing an even more costly project set in the genre just recently, so much so that Netflix let it go to be handed over to Warner Bros., and even at that there’s no guarantees it’ll happen.
The combined salaries of Brooks, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd, and Jack Nicholson totaled more than $50 million, an insane investment for five people in a medium that’s always been rather quaint by design and execution. By the time the finishing touches were ladled on top, How Do You Know released in theaters carrying a baffling $120 million price tag.
Naturally, it tanked horrendously by failing to even clear $50 million at the global box office, and by the time settled Sony was an estimated $104 million in the red, a mind-boggling volume of cash to lose on a pedestrian tale of star-crossed lovers that could have been made for a fraction of the cost.
Either way, with its place in history secured as a nine-figure dud, streaming subscribers have opted to transform How Do You Know from infamous flop to surprise success, with FlixPatrol naming it as one of the top-viewed titles on Rakuten over the weekend.