Jennifer Lopez, Sydney Sweeney and More Stars Are Navigating the Failure of Box Office Flops

Down for the count! Sydney Sweeney’s new film Christy earned a spot on a list that no studio wants to make. The R-rated boxing biopic grossed just $1.3 million during its opening weekend, making it one of the worst wide-release openings in recent movie history. Despite generating festival buzz, the film, which tells the story of decorated former pro boxer Christy “The Coal Miner’s Daughter” Martin and the domestic abuse she overcame at the hands of her trainer and husband Jim Martin, failed to find an audience in theaters.

Still, the 28-year-old star took the TKO like a champ. “Thank you to everyone who saw, felt and believed and will believe in this story for years to come,” she wrote in a Nov. 10 Instagram post. “If Christy gave even one woman the courage to take her first step toward safety, then we will have succeeded.” The actress went on to say that she was still “proud” of the film. “Why? Because we don’t always just make art for numbers,” Sydney explained. “We make it for impact. And Christy has been the most impactful project of my life.” While she may be content to accept failure, the movie biz has been shaken by a spate of high-profile movies that have failed to draw viewers into theaters. Between streamers keeping audiences glued to their at-home screens and the failure of highbrow fare to break through the big-budget franchises, big stars and critical acclaim are no guarantee that a film will become a hit.

Hits That Missed

Sydney isn’t alone among Hollywood A-listers who failed to goose ticket sales. Several recent films have tanked hard at the box office this year, including Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson’s psychological drama Die My Love. Critics loved the movie — the New York Times raved that J-Law gave a “career-defining performance” as a mother suffering from postpartum depression — but the film only did about $2.8 million in ticket sales. Waiting to see how the public will receive a movie is “truly, so awful,” the Oscar winner, 35, admitted to V magazine in the lead-up to the film’s release. “I’ve had so many experiences of working so hard on something, loving something so deeply, and releasing it to the world, and the world just being like, ‘Boo! Hate you!’”

While Die My Love was never expected to gain a wide audience, Jeremy Allen White’s highly anticipated Bruce Springsteen biopic, Deliver Me From Nowhere, with its built-in fan base of Boss-lovers, did seem born to run. Even though his portrayal of the music legend impressed critics, “The box office failure of the film was the worst case scenario, and it actually happened,” a source tells Star. “The whole team behind the movie is dealing with it in real time, and it’s not pretty. The movie is out of the Oscar race and audiences have rejected it.” After transforming himself into Nebraska-era Bruce and learning to sing and play the guitar, for the time being, the 34-year-old, is “done playing living, breathing legends,” adds the source. “He’s going back to the drawing board.”

Not-So Sure Things

Star power is no longer enough. Julia Roberts’ MeToo drama After the Hunt cost $70 million to make and earned just $3.3 million after spending a month in North American theaters. The 58-year-old “stands by her work,” says a second source. “But Julia and her team are reeling from the negative reaction they’ve gotten for the film, which was purpose-built for her to get back in the Oscar race in a big way.”

Jennifer Lopez has struggled to fill seats, too. Her latest film, Kiss of the Spider Woman, cost $30 million to make and only did $1.6 million in ticket sales in its first month despite the lengths she went to promote the musical drama. The singer-actress, 56, even posed with ex-husband Ben Affleck, a producer on the film, on the red carpet at the film’s NYC premiere.

And Dwayne Johnson, one of the highest-paid and bankable actors in Hollywood, wasn’t enough of a draw with The Smashing Machine, which earned just $6 million across 3,300 screens, the lowest movie debut of his career. “In our storytelling world, you can’t control box office results,” the 53-year-old lamented on Instagram Oct. 6.

So, what is Tinseltown to do? “To succeed in theaters today, dramas and comedies must have event status — something truly elevated and special,” How to Score in Hollywood author Kevin Goetz told the New York Times. “It’s not a phase. It’s an evolution you can’t reverse.”