James L. Brooks has made some high-quality romantic comedies in his day. Broadcast News, Terms of Endearment, and As Good As It Gets, in addition to being good (especially the first two), respectively grossed $67 million, $108 million, and $148 million domestically and were nominated for heaps of Oscars. Then came 2004’s Spanglish, with Adam Sandler, Téa Leoni, and a budget of $80 million. That movie only grossed $43 million ($55 internationally), and was also, not to put too fine a point on it, not that good. So, it makes total non-sense that Brooks’s newest movie, How Do You Know, costs 50 percent more than it. The Hollywood Reporter reports that Sony has spent $120 million ($100 million with tax breaks) on How Do You Know. All of the film’s stars got their full quotes, meaning Reese Witherspoon got $15 million, Jack Nicholson $12 million, Owen Wilson $10 million, Paul Rudd $3 million (despite the fact that Rudd looks like the best reason to see it), and Brooks $10 million, plus a part of the back end. The studio hopes that it can perform like last year’s romantic comedy It’s Complicated, which made $220 million. Come December 17th, the release date of both How Do You Know and the $170 million Tron: Legacy, should be fun to see which movie can make back less of what it cost. [HR]
