Even Star Wars on a Bad Day Did Better Than Rebecca Ferguson’s New Sci-Fi Release

1 day ago 6

Published Feb 9, 2026, 5:40 PM EST

Rahul Malhotra is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has been writing for Collider for over two years, and has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal to introduce audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

Swing and a miss > measured victory. Also, #JusticeForHan. (He/Him).

After a disappointing box office debut and a hefty second-weekend drop, the new sci-fi movie Mercy seems to have completely run out of steam. The movie marks a setback for both Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson, who've experienced massive box office success in the recent past, especially in the sci-fi genre. Mercy opened to poor reviews, which partially explains why it was released in January — typically reserved for movies that studios don't have much faith in. It turns out that Amazon MGM's suspicion was correct, with Mercy earning a terrible 24% score on Rotten Tomatoes and struggling to recoup its reported $60 million budget theatrically. It will make a final push for the $60 million milestone at the global box office, perhaps primarily to save face. Ideally, it would have needed to gross around $120 million worldwide to break even.

Mercy has only made $22 million domestically and less than $50 million worldwide so far. There's a real chance of it falling short of the $60 million mark, which would be a major disappointment for both Pratt and Ferguson. Pratt headlined three very successful Jurassic World movies, not to mention his appearances as Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and his voice performances in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, The Lego Movie, and The Garfield Movie. He is likely to return to form with the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy Movie, while Ferguson will rely on the upcoming Dune: Part Three and the third season of Apple TV's Silo to bounce back. They can also look forward to Mercy redeeming itself on the PVOD and streaming markets, which it likely will, considering its 82% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Here's the Box Office Disaster That Grossed 10 Times As Much As 'Mercy'

However, its box office underperformance cannot be overstated. For context, Mercy has so far grossed only one-tenth of the least successful live-action Star Wars movie ever domestically — Solo: A Star Wars Story. Released in 2018 after a difficult production that saw directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller being fired and replaced by Ron Howard, the movie made just over $200 million domestically and less than $400 million worldwide. It earned decent reviews, but its underperformance prompted Disney to cancel planned spin-offs centered on Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi — both projects were retooled into streaming series instead.

You can watch Mercy in theaters and Solo at home. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.