Last year, Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s Anyone But You took over the world. While the story reads like a modernized love story, there was one thing that fans ended up missing. That was the fact that the whole rom-com was actually an adaptation of a well-known work of art by William Shakespeare. The movie is based on the bard’s beloved comedy, Much Ado About Nothing.

Now, nearly two months since Sweeney’s rom-com was released, it looks like the film has set a brand new world record that other Shakespeare adaptations could only dream of.

Sydney Sweeney’s Anyone But You makes history for Shakespeare’s adaptations

In the last few months, Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s Anyone But You proved to be the rom-com of the season with its massive box office drag-in. From red-carpet appearances to surprising promotion tactics, the stars ensured to push their movie, and it seems to have worked. According to reports from Collider, after the film grossed $189 million globally, it has become one of the highest-grossing live-action Shakespeare adaptations in the world.

Apart from the Sweeney film, even Leonardo Dicaprio’s 1996 film, Romeo + Juliet wound up on the list. However, it had brought in only $147.6 million globally. While the rom-com might be bringing some well-deserved recognition to the bard’s work, some fans who had watched it never knew there was a connection to begin with. After all, the film did not focus on Shakespeare’s main characters from Much Ado About Nothing.

Instead, Sweeney’s rom-com had chosen to focus on another secondary plot with similar characters with the same names that some fans had failed to notice.

How Sydney Sweeney’s Anyone But You used Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing

When news broke about Sydney Sweeney’s Anyone But You, fans were all expecting another classic enemies-to-lovers rom-com. However, what they got was actually far from it. While the trope was still used, the creators added a new layer of depth to the whole film by basing it on William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Instead of using the main characters from the play, Claudio and Hero, they chose to focus on a secondary plot that included Beatrice and Benedick.

Just like Sweeney and Glen Powell’s characters, Bea and Ben, even in the play, the couple are made to fall in love after a series of funny, yet sly tricks by their close friends. Apart from that, quotes from the original play were also tweaked and added to the script. However, it seemed to go over a few too many heads.

What do you think about Sydney Sweeney’s Anyone But You breaking a record for Shakespeare adaptations? Let us know in the comments below.