Hugh Jackman's New R-Rated Thriller Earns His Lowest Box Office Debut In 5 Years

4 days ago 11
Hugh Jackman frowning slightly on the red carpet for The Sheep Detectives Credit: TheNews2/Cover Images

Published Jun 20, 2026, 2:18 PM EDT

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

The Death of Robin Hood is languishing in theaters.

2026's The Death of Robin Hood, which was written and directed by Michael Sarnoski (Pig, A Quiet Place: Day One), is based on the Early Modern English ballad "Robin Hood's Death" and depicts the final days of the legendary folk hero's life. Deadpool & Wolverine star Hugh Jackman plays the title character opposite a star-studded ensemble cast that includes Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, 28 Years Later), Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place, Hamnet), Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus, The Last of Us), and Bill Skarsgård (It, Nosferatu).

Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, The Death of Robin Hood is projected to earn a 3-day total of $2.5 million from 1,762 theaters at the domestic box office. While it is playing in considerably fewer theaters than the bigger wide releases of the weekend, including Toy Story 5 (4,425) and Disclosure Day (3,824), its expected position at No. 9 on the domestic chart for the weekend sees it falling behind NEON's new horror movie Leviticus, which is only playing in 1,076 theaters.

This total also means that The Death of Robin Hood is set to earn the lowest debut for a wide-release Hugh Jackman movie in five years, since his 2021 sci-fi bomb Reminiscence. That title was admittedly compromised by a pandemic-depressed movie marketplace and a day-and-date streaming release on HBO Max (that also reportedly didn't perform well). It grossed just $1.9 million in 3,265 theaters, earning a per-screen average of just $597 (the 217th worst in history for a domestic debut), eventually grossing $16.4 million worldwide against a reported budget of more than $50 million.

Below, see a breakdown of the performance of every Hugh Jackman movie that debuted in more than 1,000 theaters so far this decade:

Title

Domestic Debut

Worldwide Box Office

Reminiscence (2021)

$1.9 million

$16.4 million

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

$211.4 million

$1.338 billion

Song Sung Blue (2025)

$7.1 million

$58.2 million

The Sheep Detectives (2026)

$15.1 million

TBD

Other than Reminiscence, the most recent Hugh Jackman movie that debuted in more than 1,000 theaters and had a lower debut than The Death of Robin Hood came out almost 20 years ago. That title would be the 2008 erotic thriller flop Deception, which debuted in 2,001 theaters with $2.3 million, eventually grossing $17 million against a reported $25 million budget.

The Death of Robin Hood does not seem to be benefiting from the fact that Hugh Jackman was front and center in the advertising for the 2026 whodunit comedy The Sheep Detectives, which recently earned his best domestic debut for a non-Marvel movie since 2015's Pan. Even though that movie has already grossed more than $120 million worldwide, it seems highly unlikely that the R-rated thriller that followed it will have anything close to the same trajectory.

It remains to be seen if The Death of Robin Hood is able to turn a profit in theaters. The movie reportedly cost $20 million, which could place its estimated break-even point as high as $45 million. Even if it develops strong word of mouth (which seems unlikely, considering its lukewarm reception from viewers has earned it a score of 69% on the Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter and a C+ CinemaScore), it probably won't be able to hit that benchmark by the end of its run.

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Release Date June 19, 2026

Runtime 123 Minutes

Director Michael Sarnoski

Writers Michael Sarnoski

Producers Aaron Ryder, Andrew Swett, Alexander Black

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