He's a pop star with several high-profile acting roles under his belt, but Harry Styles is making an impact on the film world in more ways than one.
Fan fiction surrounding the pop star and his former One Direction bandmates is being made into a film, and fans believe the stories have inspired a long line of romantic comedies.
Anna Todd's New York Times bestselling series After, based on One Direction, was adapted into five feature films released between April 2019 and September 2023.
The latest reboot of After Everything – which grossed $10.6 million in box office after its limited theatrical release on September 13 – proves the phenomenal power behind the Harry Styles and 1D fan base.
Meanwhile, despite denials from the author of the book it's based on, fans are convinced that Anne Hathaway's upcoming film The Idea of You is about a 40-year-old single mother who falls in love with a younger man , who is the lead singer of a film ban, also inspired by Harry Styles.
Harry Styles fans have proven they're still a force to be reckoned with – as they've successfully managed to turn fan fiction surrounding the pop star into a film franchise (Photo: Getty)
The After series began in 2013 when superfan Anna Todd, 34, of 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 punk “Harry Styles” and the two end 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 received 544 million views.
By 2014, author Todd had secured an official publishing deal with Simon & Schuster, and the novels were published later that year.
Sensing an opportunity to further expand on its rising popularity, Paramount Pictures acquired the screen rights in October 2014 to produce a film adaptation of the first novel, After.
It all started in 2013 when superfan Anna Todd (pictured), 34, from Ohio, USA, 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 punk “Harry Styles” and the two end 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. Four more films were adapted shortly afterwards
After 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 film's commercial success – which grossed around $30 million worldwide – a sequel was planned, with Tiffin and Langford reprising their roles as Tessa and Hardin.
After We Collided was released in September 2020. The success of the sequel led to all of the books being adapted into feature films, again starring Tiffin and Langford.
After We Fell was released in 2021, followed by After Ever Happy in 2022 and the final episode of After Everything in September 2023.
In May 2022, Harry Styles himself was interviewed on SiriusXM's Howard Stern Show, where 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 that. “I'm not entirely informed about the origin of the script or anything… I've heard about it, yes. But I don't know in terms of… I'm not really sure.'
Fast forward to 2024: A romantic comedy starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine called “The Idea of You” will be released in May.
After taking her daughter to Coachella, 40-year-old Sophie Hayes meets Campbell, the 24-year-old lead singer of a boy band called August Moon – and the two begin a passionate affair
The film, 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 has left her for a younger woman.
After taking her daughter to Coachella, she meets Hayes Campbell, the 24-year-old lead singer of a boy band called August Moon. The couple begins a passionate affair but find they must come to terms with the reality of their very different lives.
It's no secret that Styles' dating history has included relationships with women several years older than himself, such as Olivia Wilde, who was 36 when Styles was 26, and Caroline Flack, who was 32 when she was dated Styles, who was 17 at the time.
However, author Lee denies that her book is based on the “As It Was” singer, telling Vogue in 2020: “This was never intended to be a book about Harry Styles, nor was it ever intended to be a classic, pulpy love story.”
She added: “It was supposed to be a story about a woman approaching 40 and reclaiming her sexuality and rediscovering herself, right at the point where society traditionally writes off women as desirable, viable and whole.”