Rom-com definition
Romantic comedies are hybrid films which by definition from http://www.filmsite.org/filmterms10.html, means "a film or production that combines or intersects two or more distinct genre types, and cannot be categorised by a single genre type; see also cross-over " this means that the films audience has widened as it is not restricted to just one genre so it will appeal to a wider fan base, there for increasing profits.
British rom-coms rating in the US
Using information from http://boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=romanticcomedy.htm we can see that there are 3 British Films in the US top 50 (using the total gross) Romantic comedies from 1978 to the present day. These are: Notting Hill at 21, Shakespeare in Love at 27 and Briget Jones Diary at 47.
BBFC ratings given to rom-coms
From http://pro.boxoffice.com/latest-news/2013-09-11-uk-romcom-about-time-beats-riddick-with-27m-debut , we can see About time, a rom-com, received the largest gross (£2.7m) in the Top 10 Films in the United Kingdom and Ireland in September 6-8, 2013. They commented saying "It posted a comparable debut to films like 50 First Dates ($14.2M Cume), One Day ($13M), and The Time Traveler's Wife ($12.7M Cume). Universal is reporting that the time-traveling romantic comedy scored particularly well in exit polls among females over 25." This shows that rom-coms can do very well with the British public as many big hit films in the UK are rom-coms.
Producers and directors
A company that largely produces rom-coms are Working Title, they have produced the likes of Bridget Jones and Notting Hill both directed by Richard Curtis and which have both profited greatly globally. Another main producer of rom-coms' is Woody Allen who has directed the likes of Annie Hall, Mighty Aphrodite and Scoop.
Target audience
Usually the audience is mainly female based but due to the comedy aspect it also appeals to men. The age target varies from teen rom-coms' to adult rom-coms', but the romcoms' usually range from 12-44. E.g 10 things I hate about you (directed by Gil Junger) is a teen rom-com' and the main audience age will be teens and adult rom-coms' like About a boy (directed by Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz) a larger older audience.
Most rom-com ratings are 12 or 15, due to swearing or sexual content which will appeal to the 14-44 rating and that is a commonly used in rom-coms' due to the key love theme.
