Mental Floss

The 25 Highest-Grossing Romantic Comedies of All Time

Ellen Gutoskey|
Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in Garry Marshall's Pretty Woman (1990).
Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in Garry Marshall's Pretty Woman (1990). | Touchstone Home Entertainment

If you manage to get Julia Roberts to star as the lead in your romantic comedy, you can probably expect a financial windfall in your future. And if her co-star is Richard Gere, even better. Roberts has appeared in four of the top 25 highest-grossing romantic comedies of all time, and the two biggest earners of those four—1990’s Pretty Woman and 1999’s Runaway Bride—also feature Gere.

It’s probably not a coincidence that both of those films were directed by the late Garry Marshall, who was a master of balancing laughs and sap on the big screen. Marshall also directed 2010’s Valentine’s Day, 19th on the list, and 2004’s The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which was the only rom-com sequel to crack the top 25.

Apparently what moviegoers want even more than a Garry Marshall romance is a Nancy Meyers one: What Women Want (2000) edged out Pretty Woman by about $4.4 million to take second place. Two more Meyers-directed flicks, Something’s Gotta Give (2003) and It’s Complicated (2009), also made the list. But in the end, neither Meyers nor Marshall could create a film to rival 2002’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which raked in more than $241 million at the domestic box office to make it the most successful romantic comedy in Hollywood history (so far).

While most of the films in the top 25 are from the late 1990s and early 2000s, there is one notable outlier: 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians, which sits in sixth place and boasts more than $174.5 million in domestic box office profits.

If you don’t see your favorite romantic comedy on the list below, it may have just missed the cut—you can see the top 100 (and beyond) from The Numbers here.

  1. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) // $241,438,208
  2. What Women Want (2000) // $182,805,123
  3. Pretty Woman (1990) // $178,406,268
  4. Hitch (2005) // $177,784,257
  5. There’s Something About Mary (1998) // $176,484,651
  6. Crazy Rich Asians (2018) // $174,532,921
  7. The Proposal (2009) // $163,958,031
  8. Jerry Maguire (1996) // $153,952,592
  9. Runaway Bride (1999) // $152,257,509
  10. Knocked Up (2007) // $148,761,765
  11. As Good As It Gets (1997) // $148,478,011
  12. Enchanted (2007) // $127,706,877
  13. Sleepless in Seattle (1993) // $126,680,884
  14. Something’s Gotta Give (2003) // $124,685,242
  15. 50 First Dates (2004) // $120,776,832
  16. The Break-Up (2006) // $118,703,275
  17. Notting Hill (1999) // $116,089,678
  18. It’s Complicated (2009) // $112,735,375
  19. Valentine’s Day (2010) // $110,485,654
  20. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) // $105,807,520
  21. Just Go With It (2011) // $103,028,109
  22. Shakespeare in Love (1998) // $100,317,794
  23. The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004) // $95,149,435
  24. He’s Just Not That Into You (2009) // $93,953,653
  25. Maid in Manhattan (2002) // $93,932,896
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