Sydney Sweeney Bombs at the Box Office With Boxing Biopic Amid Ongoing Controversy
Sydney Sweeney’s latest film faces a tough opening weekend as box office numbers fall short of expectations. The boxing biopic Christy, which stars the 28-year-old actress as pioneering female fighter Christy Martin, earned just $600,000 on its opening day across 2,814 theaters, positioning it for a projected three-day debut of around $1.25 million. The film opened at number 11 at the domestic box office, behind Tron: Ares, marking the third consecutive 2025 release for Sweeney to debut with a three-day total below $2 million.
Sydney Sweeney Boxing Biopic Bombs at the Box Office
The boxing drama tells the story of Christy Martin, who became America’s most successful female boxer in the 1990s after signing with promoter Don King and appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1996 following her memorable fight against Deirdre Gogarty. In November 2010, Martin’s husband and trainer James V. Martin stabbed her multiple times and shot her in the chest during a violent attack at their Florida home. She survived by escaping and flagging down a passing motorist. James Martin was later convicted of attempted second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Directed by David Michôd and co-written with Mirrah Foulkes, the film has received mixed reviews, earning a 66% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 60 on Metacritic. Critics have praised Sweeney’s physical transformation and commitment to the role but found the overall film formulaic and tonally uneven.
Sydney Sweeney’s Ongoing Controversy
The film’s release comes during a particularly difficult period for Sweeney, who has been at the center of a cultural controversy surrounding her American Eagle jeans campaign. The advertisements, which featured the tagline “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” sparked backlash after critics interpreted the wordplay between “jeans” and “genes” as having eugenic implications. The campaign drew such widespread attention that President Donald Trump publicly praised Sweeney and identified her as a Republican figure, though she has never publicly commented on her political affiliation.
In her first comments about the controversy, Sweeney told GQ magazine she simply did “a jean ad” and that the unexpected reaction “did not affect me one way or another.”
When directly asked about the specific criticism that “white people shouldn’t joke about genetic superiority” in the current political climate, Sweeney deflected with: “I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear.” She also added, “The ad spoke for itself.”
Christy continues a disappointing box office streak for Sweeney in 2025. Her earlier films Eden, directed by Ron Howard, opened to just $1.05 million across 664 theaters, while the neo-Western Americana earned approximately $500,000 from 1,100 theaters.
Sweeney’s American Eagle campaign and other recent controversies have reportedly created strain behind the scenes at HBO, with unconfirmed reports suggesting that co-star Zendaya is hesitant to participate in joint promotional activities for Euphoria’s upcoming third season. According to self-proclaimed pop culture investigator Sloan Hooks, Zendaya has reached A-list status following the show’s second season and does not want to see her career trajectory affected by the controversies surrounding Sweeney.
The alleged rift stems from multiple incidents: the American Eagle jeans ad controversy, a 2022 birthday party for Sweeney’s mother where attendees wore “Make Sixty Great Again” hats, rumors of Sweeney flirting with actor Tom Holland (Zendaya’s partner), and her registered Republican status conflicting with Euphoria’s representation of diverse and LGBTQ+ characters.
The film‘s poor commercial performance highlights ongoing challenges for adult-oriented dramas at the box office this fall. Christy joins a growing list of star-driven independent films that have failed to translate critical attention and festival buzz into meaningful box office returns in the current theatrical landscape.
