A decade or two ago you could depend on a decent romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts or Meg Ryan to arrive in theaters every year. Then, slowly, studios stopped believing in the genre and the release of romantic comedies has now slowed to a trickle. Part of the problem is that there’s no longer a dependable (i.e. bankable) star to headline romcoms and because there was a run of box office failures, new releases are few and far between.
Here’s the list of what fans of romantic comedies can expect to see in theaters in 2016, although it’s possible some of these may go straight to On Demand or video.
2016 Romantic Comedies
(Listed in alphabetical order)
Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong (February 2016) starring Jamie Chung, Bryan Greenberg, Richard Ng, and Sarah Lian
The Plot: In this sparkling romance, Ruby, a Chinese American toy designer from LA, visits Hong Kong for the first time on business. Finding herself stranded, she meets Josh, an American expat who shows her the city. Meandering through nighttime streets pulsing with energy and possibility, they fall into a winding and carefree conversation, buoyed by an undeniable attraction. Just as things start to look promising romantically for the pair, the night is stopped short by a surprising revelation. A year later, Josh and Ruby run into each other on the ferry from Hong Kong to Kowloon. Ruby is now living in Hong Kong full time. Josh, partially influenced by Ruby’s advice a year prior, has quit his finance job to write full time. After finding out that they’re both with someone else now, they make amends and end up spending all night hanging out in Kowloon – from bargaining at the Temple Street Market to an impromptu visit to the bird fortune teller. By the time Josh and Ruby get to an underground music club, they can no longer hide their feelings for each other. But when the opportunity presents itself at the end of the night, will either of them dare to make the next move and betray the person they’re with?
The Best Man Wedding (December 2016) starring Sanaa Lathan, Regina Hall, Morris Chestnut, Terrence Howard, Nia Long, and Taye Diggs
The Plot: The official synopsis hasn’t been released yet, however what we do know is that the gang is getting back together for a very unusual wedding.
Bridget Jones’s Baby (September 2016) starring Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, and Patrick Dempsey
Directed by Sharon Maguire
The Plot: Oscar® winners Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth reprise their roles in the next chapter of the world’s favorite singleton in Bridget Jones’s Baby. Directed by Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones’s Diary), the new film in the beloved comedy series based on creator Helen Fielding’s heroine finds Bridget unexpectedly expecting.
How to Be Single (February 2016) starring Rebel Wilson, Dakota Johnson, Leslie Mann, Damon Wayans Jr, Anders Holm, Alison Brie, Nicholas Braun, Jake Lacy, and Jason Mantzoukas
The Plot: There’s a right way to be single, a wrong way to be single, and then…there’s Alice. And Robin. Lucy. Meg. Tom. David. New York City is full of lonely hearts seeking the right match, be it a love connection, a hook-up, or something in the middle. And somewhere between the teasing texts and one-night stands, what these unmarrieds all have in common is the need to learn how to be single in a world filled with ever-evolving definitions of love. Sleeping around in the city that never sleeps was never so much fun.
How to Talk to Girls at Parties starring Elle Fanning, Nicole Kidman, and Ruth Wilson
The Plot: Under the spell of the Sex Pistols, every teenager in the country wants to be a punk, including our hopeless hero Enn. Hearing the local punk Queen Boadicea is throwing a party, Enn crashes the fun and discovers every horny boy’s dream; gorgeous foreign exchange students. When he meets the enigmatic Zan, it’s lust at first sight. But these girls have come a lot further than America. They are, in fact, aliens from another galaxy, sent to Earth to prepare for a mysterious rite of passage. When the dark secret behind the rite is revealed, our galaxy-crossed lover Enn must turn to Boadicea and her punk followers for help in order to save the alien he loves from certain death. The punks take on the aliens on the streets of London, and neither Enn nor Zan’s universe will ever be the same again.
La La Land (July 2016) starring Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, Finn Wittrock, and J.K. Simmons
The Plot: In this modern take on the Hollywood musical from Damien Chazelle, the Academy Award-nominated writer and director of Whiplash, Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone) are drawn together by their common desire to do what they love. But as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.
The Lobster – March 2016 (released in festivals in 2015) starring Colin Farrell, Léa Seydoux, Rachel Weisz, Ben Whishaw, and John C. Reilly
The Plot: An unconventional love story set in a dystopian near future where single people, according to the rules of the Town, are arrested and transferred to the Hotel. There they are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days. If they fail, they are transformed into an animal of their choosing and released into the Woods. A desperate Man escapes from the Hotel to the Woods where the Loners live and there he falls in love, although it’s against their rules.
Maggie’s Plan (May 2016) starring Travis Fimmel, Greta Gerwig, Bill Hader, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore, Ida Rohatyn, Maya Rudolph, and Wallace Shawn
The Plot: Greta Gerwig portrays Maggie Hardin, a vibrant and practical thirty-something New Yorker working at the New School who, without success in finding love, decides now is the time to have a child on her own. But when she meets John Harding (Ethan Hawke), a “ficto-critical anthropologist” and struggling novelist, Maggie falls in love for the first time, and adjusts her plans for motherhood. Complicating matters, John is in an unhappy marriage with Georgette Nørgaard (Julianne Moore), an ambitious Danish academic. With some help from Maggie’s eccentric and hilarious best friends, married couple Tony (Bill Hader) and Felicia (Maya Rudolph), Maggie sets in motion a bold new plan that intertwines the three main characters’ lives and connects them in surprising and humorous ways. Maggie learns that sometimes destiny should be left to its own device.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (March 2016) starring Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Gia Carides, Joey Fatone, Elena Kampouris, Alex Wolff, Louis Mandylor, Bess Meisler, Bruce Gray, Fiona Reid, Ian Gomez, Jayne Eastwood, Mark Margolis, Andrea Martin, and Michael Constantine
The Plot: The film reveals a Portokalos family secret that will bring the beloved characters back together for an even bigger and Greeker wedding.
Spin Out (April in Australia) starring Xavier Samuel, Morgan Griffin, Lincoln Lewis, and Melissa Bergland
The Plot: There is nothing on earth like an Australian Bachelors and Spinsters Ball, hundreds of Ute’s invade the outback for a weekend of fishtails and spin-outs. Spin Out finds two best mates, Lucy and Billy, going in circles – very fast – It can’t last. They’ve got one night to wake up to their love or they’ll be lost for life. (courtesy of IMDB)
Tumbledown – February 2016 starring Jason Sudeikis, Rebecca Hall, Joe Manganiello, Dianna Agron, Blythe Danner, Griffin Dunne, and Richard Masur
The Plot: Deep in the Maine woods, Hannah (Rebecca Hall) is unable to move on after the death of her husband, an acclaimed musician and the subject of a biography she’s struggling to write, when she meets Andrew (Jason Sudeikis), a brash New York academic who has a different take on her husband’s life – and death. The unlikely pair must collaborate to craft the famous singer’s story and begin to write the next chapter in their lives together.
2016 Preview:
