'If I Stay' Taps Into The Teen-Weepie Market

If the Twilight Saga proved anything, it's that teen girls will pay good money to be driven to tears. So this summer we have two entries into the teen-weepie genre.

The Fault in Our Stars has already set box office receipts spinning, raking in nearly $300 million worldwide since its release in June. It's also had a strong reception from audiences (82% positive on IMDb) and critics (80% positive on Rotten Tomatoes).

More: read our review of 'If I Stay'

It's hardly surprising that the summer's second adolescent tearjerker If I Stay has had a harder time with critics, who admittedly aren't in the key demographic and are unlikely to be nice to two movies aimed at pre-pubescent girls. But audiences have enjoyed it (71% positive on IMDb) since its release last week in America, and it expands globally from this week onward. On the other hand, it has a long way to catch up financially: If I Stay earned $16 million at the US box office in its opening weekend, compared with $48 million for The Fault in Our Stars.

More: 'If I Stay' may be average - but it's the best of a bad box-office bunch

The teen-weepie trend is as old as the movies themselves, reaching its climax in 1970 with the fatal-illness romance Love Story, starring Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw. Since then, key examples have included My Girl (1989), Titanic (1997) and several young-romance films based on Nicholas Sparks books, including A Walk to Remember (2002), The Notebook (2004), Dear John (2010) and The Last Song (also 2010). Clearly this isn't a trend that will end soon.

Watch the trailer for 'If I Stay':

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