Timothée Chalamet’s Sports Biopic Nears Majestic Box Office Milestone Despite Controversy

1 week ago 8

Timothee Chalamet as Marty Supreme having a meeting in a restaurant

Published Feb 2, 2026, 3:06 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).

Despite recent controversies surrounding director Josh Safdie, the film Marty Supreme is continuing its terrific box office run. The sports comedy-drama was given a textbook platform release by A24 in December and is now playing in over 1,700 domestic theaters. Marty Supreme is inspired by the true story of a ping pong champion from the 1950s, and stars Timothée Chalamet in the lead role. It represents Chalamet's best chance yet to win the coveted Academy Award for Best Actor, following a failed bid last year for the music biopic A Complete Unknown. While it remains to be seen if the allegations made against Safdie affect the film's Oscar chances, they don't seem to be impacting its box office performance.

After 45 days of release, the film is sitting at $90 million domestically and is guaranteed to hit the $100 million mark by the end of its run. Marty Supreme is already A24's top-grossing film ever at the domestic box office, but it's also the studio's most expensive project yet. The movie cost a reported $70 million, and has so far grossed around $120 million worldwide. It's still being rolled out internationally and will continue to expand as it nears the Oscars. However, Marty Supreme is also slated to be launched on the PVOD market this month. The movie opened to excellent reviews and seems to have settled at a "Certified Fresh" 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The aggregator website's consensus reads, "Serving up Timothée Chalamet at his most infectiously charismatic, Marty Supreme is a propulsive epic that realizes its sky-high aspirations even while it critiques its indelible hero's toxic ambition."

The Safdie Brothers' Separate Sports Biopics

Safdie and his brother Benny, who used to work together until last year, were accused of putting a minor cast member from their movie Good Time in a dangerous situation. According to a Page Six report, the incident was partially the reason behind their split several years later. Benny delivered his own sports biopic film last year: The Smashing Machine, starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. Unlike Marty Supreme, however, The Smashing Machine flopped at the box office. Also starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion, and Kevin O'Leary, among others, Marty Supreme has been nominated in nine categories at the Oscars.