Why was 'The Fault In Our Stars' such a big box office hit?

'The Fault In Our Stars' was one of the years biggest box office hits making $48.2 million in its opening weekend, beating other much anticipated films such as 'Maleficent', 'X-Men: Days of future past' and 'Godzilla'. Box office success can be measured in terms of the number of people who watch the film, however it is more commonly measured by the revenue from Ticket sales.

'The Fault In Our Stars' is based on the New York Times bestselling novel by John Green, a book which already had an enormous fan base which helped ticket sales substantially as people who had read the book were excited to see how the story would be portrayed on screen. Furthermore, the author, John Green also has a huge following in the online community with almost 3 million Twitter followers and over 2 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. 20th Century Fox used his 'internet fame' to their advantage as John would constantly tweet and vlog from set, sharing his own excitement. This spiked interest for the film throughout his fans as they wanted to know about John's latest project and to make him happy by ensuring the success of the film whether this was by watching it or helping to raise excitement on social media.

But the author and his fans are not the only reasons for the film's success. As the main characters, Hazel and Augustus, the film features actors Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort who were also part of one of the years earlier hits 'Divergent'. The actors had to completely change their on screen dynamic from brother and sister to teenagers who are in love with each other. So not only would fans of 'Divergent' be excited to see Woodly and Elgort side by side again, fans and critics alike flooded to the cinemas to see the actors perform this change of chemistry absolutely flawlessly.

Just as important as this to the success of a film is the storyline and the message it carries. 'The Fault In Our Stars' is a heartbreaking story about a teenage girl with terminal lung cancer. We see both the struggles of her life and the positives that can come from being a teenager. It teaches us about an issue that is very real and could happen to any of us, helping younger people to understand what people suffering from cancer go through, however unlike many films dealing with the same issue, it is done in a more lighthearted way and does not focus on the morbid parts, whilst still staying as close to fact as possible. The humour of this film not only helps to make sure that it is not too upsetting and morbid, but it also helps the film to appeal to a larger audience. The story of Hazel and Augustus is a good old fashioned romance that would usually appeal to a mostly female audience, however the jokes, computer games and the friendship between Augustus and Isaac makes the film more universally appealing than most romantic films, commonly known as 'Chick flicks'.