Booksmart

An early version of the screenplay, Book Smart by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins, was circulated in 2009 and appeared on the 2009 Black List;[7] in 2014 Susanna Fogel revised the screenplay, rewriting one lead character as a lesbian and revising the story so the girls are not seeking boyfriends for the prom, but are going to an after-prom party.[8]

Following the revisions, Annapurna Pictures purchased the screenplay and approached Gloria Sanchez Productions to produce it; Gloria Sanchez' Jessica Elbaum pitched the screenplay to Olivia Wilde, who read the screenplay and two days later expressed admiration for it.[8] Megan Ellison, Chelsea Bernard, David Distenfeld, Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Elbaum would serve as producers on the film.[9] Screenwriter Katie Silberman was hired for more revisions in spring 2018, and to update the story.[8][10] Silberman explored a new concept:

What if the two friends realized that they did high school all wrong? What if they realized that everyone they thought just partied and wasted their high-school years were going to Ivy League schools just like them?[8]

According to Silberman, "Olivia's mantra to all of us was that high school is war".[11] Wilde also envisioned "a drug trip where the girls turned into Barbie dolls" and gave Silberman the responsibility of where to incorporate it into the story.[12]

In February 2018, Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein joined the cast of the film.[13] In May 2018, Billie Lourd and Skyler Gisondo joined the cast of the film.[14][15] That same month, Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow, Jessica Williams, Will Forte, Mike O'Brien, Mason Gooding, Noah Galvin, Diana Silvers, Austin Crute, Eduardo Franco, Molly Gordon, and Nico Hiraga joined the cast of the film.[16]

Silvers was initially asked to audition for Ryan, but felt her appearance was not ideal for the character and auditioned for Hope instead.[17] Wilde also urged Feldstein and Dever to live together to develop a rapport.[18] The two actresses were roommates in Los Angeles for ten weeks.[19] Wilde also asked the cast to read the screenplay and signal if they found dialogue that felt "inauthentic ... [and] rewrite it in your own voice".[19] Silberman continued to write after casting, finding it easy to come up with dialogue to fit Feldstein and Dever.[10] Silberman particularly credited the complementary language the characters use to Feldstein, who frequently posted "I have no breath" to Instagram.[12] Wilde joked that her relationship with Sudekis was his audition.[20][21]

Principal photography began in May 2018 around the San Fernando Valley.[22][23] As a working mother, Wilde found the night filming challenging, but in the morning after filming she would take the time to bring her children to school. The effort wasn't something she could keep up in the long run, but having achieved her dream of getting to direct she was determined to "give it my all and make it work."[20]

Wilde and production designer Katie Byron decorated the bedrooms seen in the film, including with trophies and depictions of prominent American women Michelle Obama and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.[12]

The animated dolls sequence was created over five months by a team of thirty people. Wilde had voiced a character on the series BoJack Horseman and contacted ShadowMachine the animation studio behind BoJack to create the sequence. Due to script rewrites, parts of the animated scene involving a Roomba and a scene showing glitter vomit were cut from the film.[24]

The score for Booksmart was composed by Dan the Automator. Although he had assisted with the scores of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) and Money Monster (2016), Booksmart was the first full film score that Dan composed for a major US film.[25]

Booksmart grossed $22.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $2.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $24.9 million.[4][3]

In the United States and Canada, Booksmart was released alongside Aladdin and Brightburn, and was projected to gross around $12 million from 2,505 theaters in its four-day opening weekend.[30] The film made $2.5 million on its first day, including $875,000 from Thursday night previews. It ended up underperforming, debuting to just $6.9 million (a four-day total of $8.7 million), finishing in sixth place.[31] Industry publications insisted that although the targeted young female demographic did turn out to the film, it should have begun with a limited release and expanded, similar to the R-rated, female-led high school comedy Lady Bird in 2017, and that Booksmart failed to stand out in the crowded marketplace.[32][33][31][2] In its second weekend the film made $3.3 million, dropping 52% and finishing in eighth.[34]

The film's largest market outside North America was the United Kingdom, where it grossed around US$1.8 million (£1.5 million) after seven weeks in theaters.[35]

Director J. J. Abrams asked: "When you have a movie that's as entertaining, well-made, and well-received as Booksmart not doing the business it should have [the teen comedy underperforming at the box office despite critics' raves], it really makes you realize that the typical Darwinian fight to survive is completely lopsided now. Everyone's trying to figure out how we protect the smaller films that aren't four-quadrant mega-releases. Can they exist in the cinema?"[36]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 96% based on 377 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Fast-paced, funny, and fresh, Booksmart does the seemingly impossible by adding a smart new spin to the coming-of-age comedy."[37] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[38] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 80%.[31] In December 2019, Rotten Tomatoes named Booksmart the #1 comedy of the decade on the site, using an adjusted formula that weighed multiple factors, including a film's release year and number of reviews.[39]

Peter Debruge of Variety praised the ensemble cast as well as Wilde's direction, calling the film "the best high school buddy comedy since Superbad".[7] John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter called the film a "hilarious, blazingly paced teen comedy."[40] Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it a "refreshingly original take on the raunchy coming-of-age comedy" and praising Feldstein and Dever's chemistry.[41] Alissa Wilkinson of Vox awarded the film a score of four out of five, writing that the "memorably relatable" Booksmart is also a "delightful reminder that growing up is about realizing nobody's a stereotype".[42]

Linda Holmes of NPR gave an especially favorable review, calling the film "a humane and heartfelt film without a mean bone in its figurative body".[43] Vulture's Emily Yoshida also favorably wrote that it "manages to be inclusive and progressive, without being precious about anything or sacrificing an ounce of humor".[44] A. O. Scott of The New York Times regarded the film as "sharp but not mean, warm without feeling too soft or timid", and referring to Feldstein and Dever as "a classic comedy duo".[45] Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal deemed Booksmart a "prodigy", stating that no film that was "funnier, smarter, quicker or more joyous has graced the big screen in a long time."[46]

Booksmart was included on 68 critics' top-ten lists, and on two lists was ranked in first place.[47]