From fan fiction to the big screen! New Nicholas Galitzine film The Idea of You  is believed to have began as a tale about Harry Styles... and Red, White & Royal Blue and Fifty Shades of Grey also started off that way

Soppy rom coms are making a comeback, with the likes of Anything But You and Marry Me recent Box Office hits.

But a subgenre is seemingly emerging film adaptions of books - that started off as fan fiction.  

The Idea of You, The After, Fifty Shades of Grey, Red, White & Royal Blue are all rumoured to have started this way.

Amazingly, stories about Harry Styles and Twilight and even Star Wars have become mega hits.

Here, FEMAIL looks at the rise of the fan fiction film...

The Idea of You

After taking her daughter to Coachella, Sophie, 40, meets Hayes Campbell, the 24-year-old lead singer of a boyband called August Moon - and the pair begin a passionate affair

A romantic comedy starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine is set to be released next week is thought to be inspired by Harry Styles. 

The Idea of You, produced by  Amazon is based on the novel of the same name by Robinne Lee, and focuses on  Sophie, a 40-year-old single mother whose husband left her for a younger woman. 

After taking her daughter to Coachella, she meets Hayes Campbell, the 24-year-old lead singer of a boyband called August Moon. The pair begin a passionate affair but find they have to navigate the reality of their very different lives. 

It's no secret that Style's dating history has involved relationships with women several years older than himself, such as with Olivia Wilde, who was 36 when Styles was 26, and Caroline Flack, who was 32 when she dated the then 17-year-old Styles. 

However, author Lee denies her book is based on the As It Was singer, telling Vogue in 2020: 'This was never supposed to be a book about Harry Styles, nor was it ever intended as a classic, fuzzy romance. 

She added: 'It was supposed to be a story about a woman approaching 40 and reclaiming her sexuality and rediscovering herself, just at the point that society traditionally writes women off as desirable and viable and whole.'

Fifty Shades of Grey

Honest: Dakota also explained how making the trilogy became complicated in part because the author of the books, E.L. James maintained creative control over the film adaptations. (pictured in 2018's Fifty Shades Freed)

Paving the way: Dakota became a household name when she starred in Fifty Shades Of Grey in 2015 (pictured) with sequels Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed following in 2017 and 2018, respectively

Fifty Shades of Grey became a huge hit, with three books and three films grossing over a $1billion.

But it began life as Twilight fan fiction given away for free on the internet.

The erotic story tells the tale of a recent female college graduate who is seduced and dominated by a billionaire businessman.

The books were initially popular online but were then published internationally selling more than 150 million copies.

Having been published just four months ago, the combined total global sales of EL James' trilogy is already 20 million.

Fifty Shades writer James has said she thinks her books are successful because they offer women a 'holiday from their husbands'.

Especially in the first 'Fifty Shades' novel, written by E. L. James, and its adaptation, it's not hard to see the resemblance between its plot and the first 'Twilight' book — Edward Cullen is. a mysterious, brooding, rich, and handsome vampire, and Christian Grey is a mysterious, brooding, rich, and handsome business magnate ... who's into BDSM. Bella and Ana are both shy, secretly pretty, innocent young women who are inexplicably drawn to these loners.

James began posting her story, originally titled 'Masters of the Universe,' to fanfiction.net, but they were taken down for being too explicit. She then started her own website, which eventually led to her getting a book deal, and then the movies.

'I was inspired by ['Twilight' author] Stephenie Meyer ... she just kind of flipped this switch in my head,' James told ABC in 2012.

Erotic romance novel Gabriel's Inferno, which came out in 2009 and also had a film adaption, also started life as Twilight fan fiction.  

The After

The young adult romance novel is based on a Washington State freshman named Tessa, who falls in love with a punk 'Harry Styles,' with the two ending up in a tumultuous relationship

After was released on April 12, 2019, starring Josephine Langford as Tessa Young and Hero Fiennes Tiffin (pictured) as Hardin Scott, with four consequent films adapted soon after

Harry Styles fans have proven they are yet a force to be reckoned with - as they've successfully managed to have fanfiction based on the popstar turned into a film franchise (Photo: Getty)

It all started in 2013, when super fan Anna Todd (pictured), 34, from Ohio , U.S., wrote an 80-chapter book on the social writing app Wattpad

Anna Todd's New York Times bestselling After series, based on One Direction, has been adapted into five feature-length films released between April 2019 and September 2023. 

The final addition of After Everything - which made $10.6 million in box office sales after its limited theatrical release on September 13 - proves the phenomenal power behind the Harry Styles and 1D fanbase.

Meanwhile, fans are convinced - despite denials by the author of the book it's based on - that Anne Hathaway's upcoming movie, The Idea of You, about a 40-year-old single mother who falls for a younger man who's the lead singer in a very One Direction-like band. 

The After series kicked off in 2013, when super fan Anna Todd, 34, from Ohio, wrote an 80-chapter book on the social writing app Wattpad. 

The young adult romance novel is based on a Washington State freshman named Tessa, who falls in love with a punk 'Harry Styles,' with the two ending up in a tumultuous relationship.

In the original chapters - which are still available to read on Wattpad - Harry, Liam, Zayn, Louis, and Niall's real names are used for the characters. 

However, for legal reasons, the names had to be changed when the stories were published, and so the main character was changed from Harry to Hardin.

Within a month of publishing the content online, the story racked up 544 million views. 

By 2014, author Todd had landed an official publishing deal with Simon & Schuster, with the novels subsequently released later that year. 

Spying the opportunity to expand on its soaring popularity, Paramount Pictures acquired the screen rights in October 2014 to produce a movie adaptation of the first novel After.

Following four years of production, After was finally released on April 12, 2019, starring Josephine Langford as Tessa Young and Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Hardin Scott.

Due to the movie's commercial success - having collected some $30 million worldwide in box office sales - a sequel was planned with Tiffin and Langford cast to reprise their roles as Tessa and Hardin. 

After We Collided was released on September 2020, with the success of the sequel leading to all books being turned into feature-length films, again starring Tiffin and Langford. 

After We Fell was released in 2021, followed by After Ever Happy in 2022 and the final installment of After Everything in September 2023.

In May 2022, Harry Styles himself was interviewed on SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Show, in which the Watermelon Sugar crooner was asked if the series was based on him. 

In a rather awkward response, Styles said: 'I don't know how much… I don't know. I don't really know.'

He added: 'I don't know if I can confirm. I'm not entirely educated on the origin of the script or anything… I've heard of it, yeah. But I don't know in terms of… I'm not really sure.'

The Love Hypothesis 

Written by Italian neuroscientist Ali Hazelwood, the story is about an imagined relationship of Rey and Kylo Ren from Star Wars trilogy

A film is also in development for the Love Hypothesis, a BookTok sensation that started off as Star Wars fan fiction.

Written by Italian neuroscientist Ali Hazelwood, the story is about an imagined relationship of Rey and Kylo Ren from Star Wars trilogy.

In fact in the Love Hypothesis, Kylo's character is called Adam, in a nod to Adam Driver who played him.

For her part, Hazelwood has said she loves the 'enemies to lovers' trope which often happens in fan fiction. 

Red, White & Royal Blue 

This wayward Prince of England is called Prince Henry (wink wink), played by Nicholas Galitzine (right). And his sweetheart is the rogue son of the US President, Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez, left).

A bratty ‘spare’ heir to the British throne and his famous American lover, their torrid tale beamed to the world by a streaming giant. No, not them! And it's not Netflix this time, either.

Another Nicholas Galitzine flick,Red, White & Royal Blue, is believed to be the Social Network fan fiction, although the author has not confirmed this.

The book - and subsequent film - also have many real life parralels to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's romance.

Fans have said it began life as a Jesse Eisenberg/Andrew Garfield romance, although the final story is fan from that.

Perhaps the most obvious parallel between the Harry and Henry is their love for an American, although markedly the fictional Prince Henry falls in love with a man, while Harry fell for a woman. 

In Red, White & Royal Blue Prince Henry frequently refers to himself as 'the Spare'.

He is the second-born son of Princess Catherine and Arthur Fox. Princess Catherine (who is only mentioned by name in the film as she is off-screen in Botswana) is the first in line to the throne, while her son, Prince Philip, is the heir.

Prince Harry famously called his memoir 'Spare'.

Both Prince Harry and Prince Henry enjoy a spot of polo.  While Prince Harry is famously tense with his brother, Prince Henry also has a frosty relationship.