Colleen Hoover fans had doubts about Blake Lively’s new movie It Ends With Us. Then they watched the trailer.

The hotly anticipated trailer has arrived for the new Blake Lively movie It Ends With Us, the first film adaption of author Colleen Hoover's wildly popular books. 

The book and film's story follows florist Lily Bloom (Lively), who after surviving a traumatic childhood finds herself in an abusive relationship with Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni, who is also directing the film) just as her first love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), reenters her life. The movie also stars Jenny Slate and Hasan Minhaj. 

Even before the film chose its cast, the movie adaption was controversial because of critics claiming that Hoover's novel romanticised and glorified domestic violence. Then came the decision to hire Blake Lively as Lily — a character in the book who is 23 but has been aged up in the movie version — which many fans considered out of step with the novel.  

After much speculation and backlash, the movie wrapped filming and dropped its first trailer and... it's actually rather good. 

Watch the trailer. Post continues after video.

So what has the response been like, especially from Hoover's passionate fans who expressed their doubts over Lively's casting in the role? 

The comments on Sony's YouTube premiere of the trailer have been overwhelmingly positive: praising the Gossip Girl star, along with the use of Taylor Swift's emotional anthem 'My Tears Richochet' to soundtrack the tragic story. 

"This looks way better than I was expecting. The flower shop is exactly what I envisioned. [I'm] still not sold on the guy playing Atlas, but that's okay!" wrote the most popular comment. 

Another added, "Everyone was saying that she [Lively] doesn’t fit Lily... somehow they made it work, but Atlas, I pictured way differently! I’m so going to love this movie!" 

Surprisingly, fans have been more disappointed with the casting of 1923 actor Brandon Sklenar as Atlas — rather than Lively playing protagonist Lily.

Brandon Sklenar as Atlas. Image: Sony.  On the movie's Instagram post for the trailer, the comments weren't quite as positive. "I love Blake.. but I’m so disappointed," commented one person. "They’re supposed to be about a decade younger. So that just throws the story off for me." 

"Was it the cast I wanted? 'NO.' Am I going to watch it? Absolutely," added another user. 

Others said the trailer featured too many spoilers about the ending, rendering watching the movie unnecessary, but is that not true of most movie trailers these days? I'd say so.

The response was more favourable among Hoover's fans on Reddit. In the subreddit r/colleenhoover, which boasts 15,000 members, fans of the book have been pleasantly surprised by the film adaption.

"This looks a lot better than I originally thought it would be," offered one Redditor, but did add "I still think Atlas doesn't look like how I pictured him." 

Okay fam, we get it! Let Brandon Sklenar live! 

Another wrote "I wasn’t planning on seeing this since I didn’t like the casting/styling originally but happy to say it looks like it will work." 

Who would have thought that a film featuring one of the most bankable actors in Hollywood could actually be worth watching? 

The irony of fans being impressed by Lively in the role, despite her being an ancient *checks notes* 36-year-old woman, is not lost on any of us. 

It Ends With Us is slated for release on August 9, 2024.

Feature image: Sony.