Sydney Sweeney Channels Dwayne Johnson to Reframe Christy's Box Office Woes
Sydney Sweeney’s boxing biopic Christy punched into the wrong top 10, posting the ninth-worst domestic opening for a wide release on more than 2,000 screens.
Well, this is not the list anyone wanted to see Sydney Sweeney on. Her boxing biopic 'Christy' just landed in the top 10 for worst domestic openings among movies that go wide in over 2,000 theaters. Specifically: ninth-worst. Ouch.
By the numbers
- Domestic opening weekend: $1.3 million
- Release footprint: 2,000+ theaters (wide)
- Worst wide-open ranking: 9th all time in the US
- IMDb: 6.2
- Rotten Tomatoes: 66% critics, 97% audience (Popcorn)
How Sweeney sees it
Sweeney addressed the box office directly on Instagram, basically saying the numbers are not the point for her on this one. She called 'Christy' the project that hit her the hardest personally.
'We don't always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact. And christy has been the most impactful project of my life.'
That sentiment echoes what Dwayne Johnson said about the underperforming 'The Smashing Machine' — for him, it was about stretching as an actor more than chasing grosses.
A rough 2025 on the big screen
To be fair, 'Christy' is not bombing in a vacuum. Sweeney's 2025 theatrical run has been rocky. 'Americana' flopped. 'Eden' bombed despite a stacked cast. 'Christy' was pitched as the pivot — the prestige play, the Oscar shot, the comeback swing — and instead it is now one of the worst-performing mainstream releases in the US this year.
Is the problem bigger than one star?
Some folks are pinning the low turnout on Sweeney's recent controversies. That might be part of it, but it is not the whole story. Biopics have been trending soft across the board. Along with 'Christy', 'The Smashing Machine' stumbled, and even the Bruce Springsteen biopic has struggled to spark. These are awards-aimed packages in a theatrical market that is brutally competitive right now, and they are not breaking through beyond the awards crowd.
The last 2025 swing: 'The Housemaid'
There is still one more at-bat for Sweeney this year: 'The Housemaid' on December 19, 2025. It is adapted from Freida McFadden's mega-popular novel that blew up on BookTok, so it has a built-in audience in a way 'Christy' did not. The setup is clean and commercial: Sweeney plays a housemaid working for a wealthy couple, and the longer she stays, the more dangerous their secrets look.
On the surface it might remind you of Park Chan-wook's 'The Handmaiden', but they are very different animals. McFadden's book is a slick, twisty page-turner — which is exactly the kind of thing that can translate to a broader box office crowd if the adaptation sticks the landing.
'Christy' is in theaters now. We will see if 'The Housemaid' lets Sweeney close 2025 on a high note. Your call: does she end the year with a hit?