The Real Reasons Sydney Sweeney’s Christy Flopped at the Box Office

So, Sydney Sweeney made a boxing movie. It premiered at TIFF, hit U.S. theaters on November 7, 2025, and then face-planted at the box office. We are talking about 1.3 million dollars across more than 2,000 theaters, per The Guardian, which puts it in the conversation for weakest wide releases in recent memory. Sweeney took the long view on Instagram, though, and did not apologize for making a movie that clearly mattered to her.

"If Christy gave even one woman the courage to take her first step toward safety, then we will have succeeded. so yes I am proud. why? because we do not always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact."

For context: Christy is an indie biopic directed by David Michod about Christy Martin, a trailblazing boxer who survived abuse and bulldozed through a male-dominated sport. It stars Sweeney alongside Ben Foster, Merritt Wever, and Katy O'Brian, runs 135 minutes, sits at 66% with critics and 97% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, and it is currently playing in U.S. theaters.

Why did it struggle this badly?

• It walked into a buzzsaw weekend. Christy opened against Predator: Badlands, which steamrolled the weekend with a spectacle push and Elle Fanning up front. The art-house crowd had their attention pulled by Die My Love with Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence. Meanwhile, another biopic, Sarah's Oil, quietly outperformed Christy despite not having a name as visible as Sweeney. Adult-leaning dramas have been getting chewed up lately anyway: Deliver Me From Nowhere and The Smashing Machine also underwhelmed in recent weeks.
• Sweeney brought baggage into release week. An American Eagle ad that said she had "great jeans" got read by some as a wink at "great genes," which spiraled into MAGA-adjacent backlash and claims she was making light of genetic superiority. Asked about it by GQ, Sweeney said, "I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear." That answer landed as smug for many, drew flak from online voices (including a few famous ones), and turned the conversation away from the movie. Some people openly boycotted.
• The marketing was thin. One trailer, light ad spend, and a reliance on Sweeney's press rounds to do the heavy lifting. She was not blanketing other platforms either. Net result: lots of casual moviegoers did not know Christy existed, and those who did were not convinced it was worth a trip to theaters.
• Sports biopics are a tough sell right now. Post-pandemic, audiences have been brutal on formula. The rise-fall-redemption arc has to feel genuinely fresh or massive on a big screen, and if it does not, people wait to stream an underdog story at home. Even strong lead performances are not moving the needle if the package reads predictable.
• No big-studio muscle. This is an indie backed by Black Bear, not a Warner Bros. or Sony campaign. Without that infrastructure, awareness and showtime placement only go so far. Passion can get a project made; reach takes money and a machine.
• Soft spots in the reviews. Critics widely praised Sweeney's physical and emotional commitment but called out the screenplay and pacing. Several argued the film does not fully do justice to Christy Martin's life. If the team hoped critical raves would buoy awards chatter, the response did not get them there.
• Sweeney is famous, but not yet box-office bulletproof. She broke out on Euphoria and The White Lotus, but on the big screen her track record has been mixed outside of Immaculate. She was the lone above-the-title draw here and had to carry the opening; that is a lot when the audience does not yet see you as a must-see lead. The side chatter has not helped either, from the bathwater soap saga to the American Eagle dust-up and the reaction to her comments about it.
• The subject is not widely known beyond boxing. Christy Martin's story is remarkable, but she is not a household name, which means the movie needed a killer hook to pull in the curious. Some biopics can overcome that with bold, universal storytelling; this one reportedly plays it safe and straight, more summarizing a life than dramatizing it.

Where that leaves Christy

It is not just on Sweeney. A crowded weekend, light marketing, no studio-scale push, a genre audiences are wary of, and mixed reviews all stacked the deck. The numbers are rough, no way around it, but indies have found second winds on streaming before. Whether Christy becomes one of those, or sneaks into a few awards shortlists on the strength of Sweeney's performance, is the open question.

Quick recap before you ask: directed by David Michod; stars Sydney Sweeney, Ben Foster, Merritt Wever, and Katy O'Brian; premiered at TIFF; opened November 7, 2025; 135 minutes; Rotten Tomatoes sits at 66% critics and 97% audience; about 1.3 million dollars so far from a wide U.S. release. Christy is in theaters now in the U.S.