Sydney Sweeney's New R-Rated Thriller Closing In On The Star's All-Time Box Office Record

2 weeks ago 10

Sydney Sweeney smiling on a red carpet for Christy

Published Jan 27, 2026, 3:14 PM EST

Abigail is an editor for ScreenRant, currently writing and editing movie news. You may also have seen her thoughts on animated television, musical theater, and fantasy literature in Paste Magazine, Fantasy Hive, or The Oxford Blue. She has also written SR lists and op-eds covering movies, TV, and books as well. She is an English major through and through, having graduated with a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara and an MPhil from Oxford University.

Sydney Sweeney's latest movie may end up being a career-changing venture for her.

Paul Feig's The Housemaid has proven to be a major box office hit, grossing nearly $295 million worldwide (per The Numbers) to date on a budget of less than $50 million. The psychological thriller stars Sweeney as a young woman with a troubled past who takes a job as a live-in housekeeper for a wealthy couple, but finds her relationship with the housewife, played by Amanda Seyfried, becoming increasingly dangerous.

The Housemaid is getting closer to becoming the highest-grossing movie of Sweeney's career by one or more metrics. Both at the international and domestic box office, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is currently Sweeney's biggest movie. Sweeney, however, has only a small role in the Best Picture nominee; The Housemaid is already her top movie where she is the lead.

The Housemaid is still behind Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which grossed $377 million worldwide. The Housemaid is also at $115 million domestically, where Once Upon a Time grossed $142.5 million. The 2025 thriller has passed what was previously the biggest hit of Sweeney's leading career by a large margin, with Anyone But You grossing just under $220 million worldwide.

In 2025, Sweeney went from three straight flops to this massive box office hit: Eden, Americana, and Christy all made barely $5 million combined. While the trend may have sown doubt that Sweeney could still lead a major box office movie, The Housemaid undid it all at once, setting Sweeney up to star in the confirmed movie adaptation of the sequel, The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden.

Sweeney is also still a major TV star, with her series Euphoria, led by Zendaya, climbing the streaming charts again ahead of the season 3 premiere. The Housemaid is a reasonably well-reviewed thriller with a 73% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes, but against a 92% Popcormeter, speaking to its appeal being uncritical fun.

ScreenRant's review for The Housemaid stars with: "Don't let anyone make you feel guilty about enjoying the pleasures of this deranged adaptation." The Housemaid is still going strong at the box office and stands to hit a few more milestones before it wraps up its theatrical run, which will help Sweeney further her career as a movie star.