Sydney Sweeney Sets Lionsgate Record as The Housemaid Tops Mark Wahlberg and Ana de Armas at the Box Office

Sydney Sweeney’s The Housemaid is barreling toward a $20–$25 million debut across 3,000 theaters, positioning Paul Feig’s erotic thriller with Amanda Seyfried as Lionsgate’s biggest opening of the year—and leaving recent turns from Mark Wahlberg and Ana de Armas in the dust.

Sydney Sweeney has an old-school thriller on her hands, and it looks like Lionsgate finally has a legit crowd-pleaser. The Housemaid is rolling into the weekend with real heat and a box office forecast that could put the studio on top of its own 2025 leaderboard.

The quick version

• Title: The Housemaid
• Release date: December 19, 2025 (in theaters now)
• Director: Paul Feig
• Screenplay: Rebecca Sonnenshine
• Based on: 'The Housemaid' by Freida McFadden (2022)
• Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar, Michele Morrone, Elizabeth Perkins
• Budget: $35 million
• Opening weekend projection: $20 million to $25 million from roughly 3,000 theaters

What it has to beat at Lionsgate

For context: Mark Wahlberg's Flight Risk opened to $12 million from 3,161 theaters earlier this year. Ana de Armas' John Wick spinoff Ballerina bowed at $24.5 million from 3,409 screens. If The Housemaid lands at the upper end of its $20–25 million tracking, it could challenge Ballerina for Lionsgate's top opening of 2025. Not a lock, but definitely in striking distance.

What the movie actually is

Sweeney plays Millie Calloway, a young woman with a messy past who takes a job with the extremely rich Winchester family and quickly discovers their life is... not aspirational. Secrets pile up, and things go from glossy to unhinged in ways that clearly scratch that '90s-style erotic thriller itch.

Sweeney has been selling it as a blast, and yeah, the movie backs her up

"It's fun, it's juicy, it's delicious. It's all the different feels... If you want to be able to go and have a good time ... you're going to be screaming at the screen, you're going to be laughing, you're going to be crying. There's so much that we give everybody. So, it's a good emotional cleanse for yourself."

That pitch checks out. The Housemaid is Certified Fresh at 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics specifically calling out Amanda Seyfried's turn as the movie's secret weapon.

"A sly throwback to the lurid thrillers that used to dominate multiplexes, The Housemaid cleans up nicely thanks to its wicked sense of fun and a delightfully unnerving performance from Amanda Seyfried."

Audiences are in too: 90% on the Popcornmeter, with early reactions praising the cast, the look of the film, the pacing, and the twists. Translation: this is the 'grab a friend and react out loud' kind of theater watch.

The author says the movie outdoes the book

Freida McFadden, who wrote the best-selling novel, saw an early cut and did not play it cool. She posted that she absolutely loved the adaptation and, rare as it is, thought the movie topped her own source material.

"The second it was over, I turned to my husband in the theater and said, 'Omg, I think it was better than the book!' (And he said, 'Yeah.')"

Bottom line

If the projections hold, The Housemaid could edge out the rest of Lionsgate's 2025 slate on opening weekend. Either way, it sounds like the exact kind of glossy, twisty crowd thriller that is built for a packed auditorium. The Housemaid is in theaters now.