Sydney Sweeney has become a pop-culture icon, but ironically enough, it still hasn’t been proven that she’s a big draw at the box office. Sweeney has a new prestige movie project out in theaters, just in time for awards season consideration, and it’ll need all the critical acclaim that it can get. Based on opening weekend box office figures, the project is definitely not going to be a cash-cow earner.
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Christy is the new sports drama biopic about Hall of Fame boxer Christy Salters, who rose from humble beginnings in West Virginia (nicknamed “The Coal Miner’s Daughter”) to be one of the best female boxers of her era. Sweeney steps into the role of Christy Salters, committing to a drastic transformation for the role, for a performance that had both dramatic and physical challenges. However, the opening box office figures are now in, and Christy only made $1.3 million, one of the top 10 worst box office openings of all time (not counting re-releases). And yet, over on Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an impressive 98% audience score, at least suggesting that the vast majority of people who go to see Christy come away liking it. The critical score for the film is only sitting at 66%, which is only okay for a film that’s hoping for awards season acclaim.
To put things in perspective: Christy had a lower box office opening than films that are now considered some of the worst of the worst. That list includes urban legend horror flick The Empty Man (also $1.3M opening), Bill Murray’s musical comedy Rock the Kasbah ($1.4M), the threequel Major League: Back to the Minors ($2M opening), SNL alumni Kyle Mooney’s 2024 horror comedy film, Y2K ($2.1M opening), the movie adaptation of the cartoon/toy line Max Steel ($2.18M opening), and The Adventures of Pluto Nash ($2.182M opening), Eddie Murphy’s sci-fi comedy that is generally considered to be one of the worst films ever.
Sports Biopics Are Having A Bad Year (Even With Big Star Power)
Christy is yet another example of sports drama biopics struggling to find an audience. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson released The Smashing Machine earlier in the fall season; that film (about the rise and fall of MMA icon Mark Kerr) opened to $5.8 million and only grossed $20 million total during its theatrical run (against a budget of $50M). That project was deemed a flop, even for a successful indie production house like A24 Films.
Black Bear Productions is hoping for similar brand success via star-driven indie vehicles; that includes Jodie Foster and Annette Bening’s 2023 Oscar-contender Nyad, Jason Statham’s revenge-actioner A Working Man, or Guy Ritchie’s star-studded ensemble (Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, Eiza González) for the WWII biopic, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. The studio has seen a mixed bag of successes and failures, and Christy looks like it will fall on the latter side. Black Bear also produced Sweeney’s 2024 horror film vehicle Immaculate, which took in $35M at the box office against a budget of $9M, and was a strong indicator that Sydney Sweeney had a chance at movie stardom.
Sydney Sweeney’s Movie Career Is Still Very Much Alive
The low opening (or ultimate performance) of Christy won’t be a death knell for Sydney Sweeney’s movie career – certainly not, if the much-maligned Madame Web didn’t stop it. The biopic was a prestige picture, released at the perfect time for critics groups to have it fresh in mind for awards season voting. Box office receipts weren’t really the point: having Sydney Sweeney’s name in Golden Globes and Oscar conversations, totally was.
Meanwhile, Sweeney will go from playing a boxer to delivering a one-two punch combo to moviegoers: She has a big psychological thriller from Bridesmaids director Paul Feig, The Housemaid, hitting theaters just before Christmas; she also has a role in The Devil Wears Prada 2 next year, where she’ll star opposite Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and other major stars of the screen. Both of the big seasonal releases (Christmas and Summer) will happen when Sweeney’s star power has never been higher off-screen – whether it’s an ad campaign that becomes a national debate, a red carpet fit that breaks the internet, or big media interviews where every question becomes an online clip. Sydney Sweeney is currently too big for one biopic project to make her fail.
For what it’s worth, Christy is playing in theaters.
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