Ana de Armas R-Rated Thriller Dominates HBO Max's Top 10 Chart After $140M Box Office Struggle

3 days ago 9

Published Apr 20, 2026, 2:15 PM EDT

Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

Ana de Armas is firing on all cylinders on HBO Max.

Ballerina, de Armas' 2025 R-rated action thriller, is currently the 3rd most-watched movie on HBO Max in the United States. The film ranks higher than movies like The Boys star Jack Quaid's Companion, Brendan Fraser's The Mummy Returns, Sydney Sweeney's Christy, the classic disaster movie Twister, and more. The only two films performing better than Ballerina on HBO Max nationwide are The Mummy, in 2nd, and Dust Bunny, in first.

Ballerina has even managed to perform better on the streamer than The Devil Wears Prada, which is finally set to get a sequel on May 1. De Armas' R-rated movie is a spinoff from Keanu Reeves' celebrated action franchise, John Wick. The Matrix star has led four John Wick movies so far, with Ballerina including the iconic character in a striking supporting role. Reeves' action hero shares scenes with de Armas' Eve Macarro.

The John Wick spinoff is a revenge tale focused on Macarro, who, after the murder of her father when she was young, grows to become a talented assassin through rigorous training with the Ruska Roma organization. Ballerina then sees the character as an adult, with de Armas' Eve going on a murder spree as she tries to get to the one who killed her father and get her revenge.

With a reported budget of $90 million, Ballerina needed to finish its box office run between $180 million and $225 million to break even. However, it did not quite get there, even with talent like de Armas, Reeves, Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), Lance Reddick (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), Ian McShane (Deadwood), and more. Ballerina finished its theatrical run with $140.2 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

In ScreenRant's Ballerina review, critic Rachel Labonte gave the John Wick spinoff a 6 out of 10 score, calling it a "Bigger, sillier take on the John Wick franchise." On Rotten Tomatoes, Ballerina has a solid critics' score, standing at 75%. While the movie's box office was low, those who did go to theaters to watch it seem to have had a great experience, as Ballerina boasts a near-perfect 92% audience score.

Ballerina's positive standing with the audience helps explain why it is now a United States smash hit on HBO Max. At the time of writing, a sequel has yet to be confirmed. However, speaking to Entertainment Weekly on June 6, 2025, Ballerina director Len Wiseman said, "I cast Norman Reedus because I have plans for him," and, "I would love it if it were to continue." Ballerina's HBO Max success could help move the sequel along.