A romantic thriller is a hybrid genre that blends elements of romance and thriller stories. It features stereotypical characters like possessive male leads and dependent female characters. The genre appeals to a wide audience by combining the romance that appeals to women with the thrills that appeal to men. Example films provided are The Bodyguard, Prom Night, The Tourist, and The Adjustment Bureau, which were commercially successful romantic thrillers from the 1990s-2010s with budgets between $20-100 million.

1. Genre Analysis
Romantic Thriller

2. What is a Romantic Thriller?
• Romantic thriller in terms of genres, is a hybrid genre (a
genre in fiction that blends themes and elements from two
or more different genres).
• The genre works on two levels. First a specific theme exists.
Then general relationships, patterns and structural
elements are merged with the specific theme. This means
that there can be a large variety of visual styles and story
structures in romantic thriller.
• This allows for a wide range of production techniques to be
used to create a desired effect as well as it being able to
appeal to a larger and more varied target audience than a
simple Thriller or Romance film would.
• A Romantic Thriller is a good film to contrast because the
genres are so different and varied from each other, allowing
for an interesting and somewhat unique production.

3. Stereotypical Characters you see in a
Romantic Thriller
• Males tend to be possessive and overpowering, the
male figure in the ‘love’ story tends to be obsessed
with the female characters, for example something
similar to the narrative in the film ‘Prom Night’.
• Female characters tend to depend on the male
characters for protection. Females tend to be
portrayed as feeble and unable to fend for themselves
in when it comes to dangerous situations with the
villain of the story.
• However when the romance aspects of the genre come
into play the female roles sort of take the lead as,
stereotypically, women invest more time in romance
than men tend to.

4. Target Audience
• Romantic Thrillers attract a wide audience due
to the vast contrast between the two genres.
• For example, the typical audience attracted to
a romance film are generally females, tending
to age from 16+.
•
• Thrillers are mainly appealing to males, due to
the somewhat violent nature and slight action
aspects of the genre.

6. The Bodyguard (1992)
• The Bodyguard is a 1992 American romantic thriller
film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston.
Released on June 13th 1992.
• Costner stars as a former Secret Service Agent-turned-
bodyguard who is hired to protect Houston's character,
a music star, from an unknown stalker.
• Lawrence Kasdan wrote the film in the 1970s, it was
directed by Mick Jackson, distributed by Warner Bros.
Pictures, and had a budget of $25 million.
• It was the second highest-grossing film of 1992,
worldwide. At the time, the film became one of the
100 all-time highest grossing films across the globe
making $411 million, despite mixed to negative
reviews from critics.
• The soundtrack became the best-selling soundtrack of
all time, selling more than 45 million copies worldwide.
• In the United States, The Bodyguard opened on
November 25, 1992 in 1,717 theatres. It made $16.6
million in its opening weekend. The film was in
theatres for thirteen non-consecutive weeks,
ultimately grossing $121.9 million USA, and $410.9
million worldwide.

7. Prom Night (2008)
• Directed by Nelson McCormick and starring Brittany
Snow. The film is a re-imagining of the 1980 Canadian
horror film of the same name.
• The budget for the film was $20 million. It was produced
by Original Film and Newmarket Films in association with
Alliance Films, which holds the rights to the original
franchise, along with sequel rights.
• It was released in the United States by Screen Gems, in
Canada by Alliance Films, and in Australia by Sony
Pictures. The film was shot in the vicinity of South
Pasadena, California as the location for Donna Kepple's
home. Park Plaza Hotel (Los Angeles) was used as the
location for Prom. The Yaquina Bay Bridge is shown in the
opening scenes of the movie.
• Although ‘Prom Night’ is technically a slasher film, there
are romantic thriller aspects to the movie. For example
the main back story is about a teacher who fell in love
with one of his students, he then becomes obsessed with
her and makes sure nothing stands in the way of their
‘love’. So in some twisted way, there are romance
connotations.
• The film massively subverts the stereotypes that come
hand in hand with a romance film. For one the female
lead doesn’t consent to her psychotic ex teachers, ‘love’.

8. Prom Night (2008)
• In its opening weekend, the film grossed $20,804,941 in
2,700 theatres in the United States and Canada, ranking #1 at
the box office and averaging $7,705 per theatre, despite
harsh critical reviews. In Australia, Prom Night opened at the
#3 position making $854,514, just behind Superhero Movie
and The Spiderwick Chronicles.
• In the United Kingdom, Prom Night opened at the #4
position making £507,985, just behind Sex and the City,
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and
Superhero Movie. The film has a domestic gross of
$43,869,350 and a foreign gross of $12,728,210 for a
worldwide total of $56,597,560. According to Boxofficemojo,
the film is currently ranked as the 16th highest grossing
slasher film and the 14th best Horror Remake.
• The DVD was released on August 19, 2008 in theatrical (88
min.) and unrated (89 min.) versions. It was released in
Australia on Blu-ray and 2 Disc DVD Edition on August 27,
2008. In FYE stores in the US, the unrated edition came with
a bonus disc called "Body Count: Investigating the Murders of
Prom Night", which is a 22-minute documentary about the
murders of various characters about the film, as well as
various techniques the director used to make the murders
scarier. Includes interviews with Nelson McCormick (director)
and other members of the cast of the film.

9. The Tourist (2010)
• The Tourist is a romantic comedy thriller co-
written and directed by Florian Henckel von
Donnersmarck, starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny
Depp.
• It is based on Anthony Zimmer. Graham King
Films financed and produced the film, with Sony
Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions releasing it in
most countries through Columbia Pictures. The
$100 million-budgeted film went on to gross
$278,346,189 million at the worldwide box office.
• The film was nominated for three Golden Globes.
• Filming began in Paris with Angelina Jolie on
February 23, 2010 and then the production
moved to Venice, where Depp joined the cast, on
March 1.
• The whole film was made in only a little over 11
months, counting from the day Henckel von
Donnersmarck came on board to re-write and
direct to the day of the premiere in New York.

10. The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
• The Adjustment Bureau is a 2011 American
romantic science fiction thriller film loosely based
on the Philip K. Dick short story, "Adjustment
Team". The film was written and directed by
George Nolfi and stars Matt Damon and Emily
Blunt.
• It had a budget of $50.2 million andIn its opening
weekend in the United States (March 4–6, 2011),
The film grossed $21,157,730, which was the
second most of any film that weekend, behind
Rango. Its total worldwide gross is $127,869,379
as of December 18, 2011.
• The film had its World premiere on February 14,
2011, at the Ziegfeld Theatre on 141 West 54th
Street in New York City. Writer/director George
Nolfi was in attendance along with various cast
members.
• The Adjustment Bureau was released on DVD and
Blu-ray Disc on June 21, 2011. The film was the
top selling release for its opening week.
• Media Rights Capital funded the film and then
auctioned it to distributors, with Universal Studios
putting in the winning bid for $62 million.