Multi-Year Curse Is Over: Sydney Sweeney's 'The Housemaid' Just Snapped a Brutal Streak

03.01.2026 08:29

For a period, it seemed like the Sydney Sweeney "box office curse" may prove to be a legitimate thing. Despite her tremendous popularity, the star was in the midst of a brutal multi-year streak of box office disappointments. Even factoring in her highest-grossing film domestically over the past two years, Madame Web, didn't help, as it was widely considered a flop due to an estimated production cost of around $100 million. However, that painful stretch of domestic box-office disappointments officially ended as the calendar turned from 2025 to 2026, thanks to the recently released movie The Housemaid, in which Sweeney stars alongside Amanda Seyfried.

Sydney Sweeney's Lengthy Box Office Streak: How Long Was It?

Sydney Sweeney at 'The Housemaid' Los Angeles Premiere After Party held at TAO.

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

Although the recent run of films in which Sweeney starred proved that not all streaks are good ones, her breakthrough with The Housemaid has to feel like a bit of a relief. Looking at the domestic box office numbers for her last six movies, not a single one topped $50 million. Beyond that, other than Madame Web ($43.8 million domestically), no other film made more than $15.6 million domestically (Immaculate in 2024), per The Numbers.

However, it is worth noting that while the box office hauls weren't there, one movie in particular, the August 2025 release Americana, shouldn't be considered a "flop" necessarily. The Indie film had a small budget and, as Fandom Wire detailed, made around $1.5 million at the box office, so that doesn't tell the whole story.

Regardless, from a pure box office perspective, it had been two years since Sweeney had a movie release with a significant box office pull. This was Anyone But You, released on Dec. 22, 2023, and grossed $88.3 million domestically.

Here's a breakdown of the domestic box office numbers for Sweeney's films from The Housemaid to Anyone But You during the two years, via The Numbers:

The Housemaid (2025): $60.8 million
Christy (2025): $1.9 million
Eden (2025): $1.5 million
Americana (2025): Estimated at $1.5 million
Echo Valley (2025): Apple TV+ release
Immaculate (2024): $15.6 million
Madame Web (2024): $43.8 million
Anyone But You (2023): $88.3 million

Going back further, it was primarily the early stages of Sweeney's acting career, but she was in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, which grossed $142.5 million domestically in 2019. Of the list above, Echo Valley gained some traction upon its Apple+ release, although many reviews were highly critical of the film.

Why 'The Housemaid' Worked Where Other Movies Failed

Brandon Sklenar, Paul Feig, Sydney Sweeney, and Amanda Seyfried attend the after party for the Los Angeles premiere of Lionsgate's 'The Housemaid'.

Monica Schipper/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images

Although the star power The Housemaid provided, specifically from its three primary characters in Sweeney, Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar, didn't hurt, the movie's success goes beyond that. The psychological thriller is the type of film that moviegoers love, and it brought a strong plot/storyline that was hard not to be intrigued by.

While The Housemaid has an international box office number of just $8.1 million, its domestic pull did the heavy lifting. More importantly, the reviews may have largely helped the Sweeney and Seyfried-led film, as audiences seem to have loved it.

The Housemaid was labeled as "Certified Fresh" on the popular review site Rotten Tomatoes, and holds a 73 percent critics' score. But the audience score, based on 2,500-plus verified reviews, is far more noteworthy. The movie boasts a stellar 92 percent audience score, strong enough for The Housemaid to earn a "Verified Hot" tag.