The Kissing Booth 2 Budget

What Is the Budget of The Kissing Booth 2 (2020)?

The Kissing Booth 2 (2020), directed by Vince Marcello and distributed by Netflix, was produced on an estimated budget of $20,000,000 to $25,000,000, a meaningful step up from the original film's reported $20,000,000 production cost. The sequel was greenlit by Netflix after the first Kissing Booth became one of the platform's most-watched and most-rewatched films of 2018, with research head Ted Sarandos publicly citing the franchise as a model for Netflix's YA content strategy.

Komixx Entertainment returned as the primary production company alongside Netflix's in-house production arm, with Vince Marcello again directing and co-writing the screenplay alongside Jay Arnold. The expanded budget funded a longer South African shoot, additional cast (including new principals Maisie Richardson-Sellers and Taylor Zakhar Perez), expanded set construction for the eponymous Dance Dance Revolution-inspired competition sequence, and a New England-set Harvard storyline with subsidiary photography.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

The reported production cost was distributed across these areas:

• Above-the-Line Talent: Returning leads Joey King (Elle), Joel Courtney (Lee), and Jacob Elordi (Noah) commanded substantial raises following the first film's breakout success, with Elordi's rate jumping after his Euphoria casting. Director Vince Marcello operated as both co-writer and producer, controlling the franchise creative voice across all three installments.
• South Africa Production: Principal photography ran in Cape Town, South Africa, the same base used for the first film, with the production qualifying for the South African Department of Trade and Industry's Foreign Film and Television Production rebate. The longer schedule and larger ensemble drove location, set construction, and lodging costs above the original film's footprint.
• Dance Competition Setpiece: The centerpiece Dance Dance Revolution-style competition required custom-built arcade-style platforms, choreography rehearsal time, and additional crew for live-action capture of multiple synchronized routines.
• Massachusetts Subsidiary Photography: Second-unit and subsidiary photography in Boston and at Harvard University covered exteriors for Noah's college-set scenes, with the production drawing on Massachusetts production rebates where applicable.
• Music Licensing: Like the first film, the sequel built its identity around a high-volume pop and dance soundtrack including tracks by Taylor Swift, Ava Max, Hailee Steinfeld, and Carly Rae Jepsen. Music rights cleared for both the film and an accompanying Netflix soundtrack release.
• Cast Ensemble Expansion: New series additions Maisie Richardson-Sellers (Chloe), Taylor Zakhar Perez (Marco), and an expanded supporting roster including Meganne Young and Molly Ringwald added principal cast lines without crossing into A-list rates.

How Does The Kissing Booth 2's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

The Kissing Booth 2 sits firmly in the mid-budget tier of Netflix YA romance originals:

• The Kissing Booth (2018): Budget approximately $20,000,000 | Netflix exclusive. The first installment became one of the most-rewatched films in Netflix history during its launch year.
• The Kissing Booth 3 (2021): Budget approximately $20,000,000 to $25,000,000 | Netflix exclusive. Filmed back-to-back with The Kissing Booth 2 to amortize production costs, the third installment closed out the trilogy in August 2021.
• To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020): Budget approximately $13,000,000 | Netflix exclusive. The Netflix YA romance contemporary, also a sequel to a 2018 streaming hit, demonstrates the platform's comparable but more modest production cost for the genre.
• After We Collided (2020): Budget approximately $14,000,000 | Worldwide $46,797,989. The Hardin and Tessa sequel offers the theatrical YA romance comparison, illustrating how the limited theatrical alternative compares to Netflix's streaming-exclusive model.
• Tall Girl (2019): Budget undisclosed (estimated under $15,000,000) | Netflix exclusive. Another Netflix YA romance offering the closest peer in production model.

The Kissing Booth 2 Box Office Performance

The Kissing Booth 2 premiered on Netflix on July 24, 2020 as a streaming exclusive with no theatrical release. The film became one of Netflix's most-watched releases of 2020, with the platform reporting that 66,000,000 households watched the film in its first 28 days, a figure that placed it among the top three Netflix original films of the year alongside Extraction and The Old Guard.

Because the film had no theatrical release, no box office gross was recorded. The financial profile is reconstructed below:

• Production Budget: approximately $20,000,000 to $25,000,000 (estimated)
• Estimated Prints & Advertising (P&A): absorbed into Netflix in-platform marketing (no theatrical P&A)
• Total Estimated Investment: approximately $25,000,000 to $30,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: not applicable (Netflix exclusive)
• Net Return: recouped through subscriber retention and renewal during peak pandemic streaming period
• ROI: positive based on 66,000,000 first-month household reach

The Kissing Booth 2 was instrumental in driving Netflix subscriber growth during the summer 2020 pandemic streaming surge, contributing to the platform's record Q2 2020 net adds of 10,090,000 paid subscribers globally. The launch metrics validated Netflix's decision to greenlight Kissing Booth 3 concurrent with the second film's production.

The Kissing Booth 2 Production History

Development on The Kissing Booth 2 began almost immediately after the first film's viral success in spring 2018. Director Vince Marcello returned to co-write the screenplay with Jay Arnold, expanding the source material to draw on both the second and third books in Beth Reekles's YA romance trilogy. Beth Reekles herself remained involved as a consulting producer.

Netflix officially announced the sequel in February 2019. Principal photography began in June 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa, the same location as the first film, allowing the production to leverage established crew relationships, locations, and the South African production rebate. The shoot ran approximately 16 weeks, significantly longer than the original's schedule, to accommodate the expanded ensemble and the elaborate Dance Dance Revolution competition centerpiece.

Casting Taylor Zakhar Perez as transfer student Marco followed a wide search; the role was originally written as a more peripheral character before being expanded in pre-production to deepen the love triangle storyline. Maisie Richardson-Sellers joined the cast as Chloe, Noah's Harvard classmate whose friendship with him drives Elle's long-distance jealousy arc.

A second-unit team handled exteriors at Harvard University and in Boston for the Noah-at-college sequences. The production wrapped in October 2019, with post-production overlapping the start of pre-production on The Kissing Booth 3, which was shot largely back-to-back with the sequel to maximize ensemble availability and reduce per-film overhead.

Awards and Recognition

The Kissing Booth 2 received industry recognition primarily in audience-voted YA and teen-focused awards. At the 2021 Kids' Choice Awards, the film and its cast received multiple nominations, with Joey King and Joel Courtney recognized for their lead performances. The MTV Movie & TV Awards nominated the film for Best Kiss.

No mainstream awards body has recognized the franchise for production craft, screenplay, or direction. The film did not receive Razzie nominations despite mixed-to-negative critical reception.

Critical Reception

The Kissing Booth 2 received mixed-to-negative reviews. The film holds a 27% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 39 critic reviews and a 39 out of 100 score on Metacritic, an improvement over the first film's 17% Rotten Tomatoes score but still placing it on the lower end of the YA romance spectrum.

Critics objected to the inflated 130-minute running time, the formulaic love triangle structure, and the dated treatment of teen romance dynamics. The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Scheck wrote that the film "drags on for what feels like an entire school year," while IGN's Laura Prudom called it "overlong but occasionally charming." Variety's Joe Leydon noted the film "improves marginally on its predecessor while still feeling like a 130-minute Instagram carousel."

Audience response was significantly more positive, with a 71% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and the film's consistent top-ten Netflix placement validating the franchise's established fanbase. The disconnect between critical reception and audience engagement has been a defining feature of the trilogy, and Netflix's decision to immediately greenlight a third installment reflected the platform's prioritization of engagement metrics over aggregator scores.