Movies from the Heart—Book Club and Book Club: The Next Chapter

As we’ve been looking at romantic films, and in the last few weeks, particularly romantic films about older adults, I wanted to take a look at a pair of films that are more recent—Book Club [2018] by Bill Holderman and Erin Simms and its sequel Book Club: The Next Chapter [2023] by the same writers.

The first film was a gigantic success. Made for around $10 million it grossed over $100 million. Thus, a sequel was happily funded. But the sequel bombed, barely making back its budget. So what’s the deal? Why did this happen?

Let’s look at the premise of the first film. Four book club members find their lives changed when they read the sexy Fifty Shades of Gray. They become more romantic. And that’s kind of fun to watch.

But like Ticket to Paradise which we looked at last week, what sold this film to audiences was star power. Four dynamite actresses: Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen. Now, at the height of their careers, Diane Keaton and Jane Fonda would easily have earned $10 million per picture. But with Book Club the entire budget for the film was $10 million!

Why in the world is this the case? I’ll bet you don’t have to think too hard. Films about older adults just aren’t made that often and romantic films? Come on, who wants to see that?! Or so goes the Hollywood mantra. But Book Club showed that audiences DO want to see that. And the film, though not great, was a bit of fun. Take a look at the trailer for the film.

Fun. Definitely fun, right?

Now take a look at the sequel, Book Club: The Next Chapter.

Doesn’t it feel a little forced? It’s almost like the writers didn’t know what to DO with these four women, so they sent them to Italy. And it’s a nice trip to Italy, but hardly anyone took it. The reviews were so mediocre that the audience for the original film just didn’t show up.

The first film had a really cute premise—how reading this sexy book caused these four women to reexamine their own sex-lives. And for women in the audience who were older, this was giving them permission to do the same. Or, at the very least, live vicariously through women doing what they might wish they could do. And that’s a secret to movie-making—letting people live a life that they might like but don’t have the courage to live.

And the second film? Well, the premise—one of them getting married, thus spawning the bachelorette party where they travel to Italy—just wasn’t big enough to build a whole movie around.

I’m delighted to see films made with a romantic bent for older audiences, but I’m not sure Hollywood has quite figured out how to make them work!

Next week we’re going to end our look at romantic films with a film from the 90s: Up Close and Personal.

Copyright © Diane Lake

17Mar25

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com