Sydney Sweeney is defending her new movie, Christy, brushing off its abysmal box office numbers.
Christy, which follows the ’90s rise of queer boxer Christy Martin as well as her manager-turned-husband’s abuse, debuted at No. 11 at the box office, only making $1.3 million despite production costing $15 million. Its small earnings awarded the film one of the worst debuts for a movie released in more than 2,000 North American theaters.
Contrasting the film’s disastrous ticket sales, Rami Malek’s Nuremberg took home $4.1 million in sales, despite being shown in just 1,802 theaters—over 200 fewer than Sweeney’s was shown in. Topping the board in sales was Predator: Badlands, which took home $40 million.
Despite the numbers, the controversial Euphoria star used her Instagram account to tell fans how “deeply proud” she is of a film that “stands for survival, courage and hope.”
“Through our campaigns, we helped raise awareness for so many affected by domestic violence,” Sweeney wrote. “We all signed on to this film with the belief that christy’s story could save lives.”
Sweeney expressed how “proud” she is of the film’s director, David Michôd, the story they told, and her pride in being able “to represent someone as strong and resilient as Christy Martin.”
“This experience has been one of the greatest honors of my life,” she wrote in the caption of her Instagram post detailing shots from behind the scenes.
She went on to thank everyone who saw the film and “believed” in the story. “If Christy gave even one woman the courage to take her first step toward safety, then we will have succeeded,” she wrote. “So yes I’m proud. why? because we don’t always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact. and Christy has been the most impactful project of my life.”
Sweeney ended her post by addressing Martin—who has many posts with Sweeney up on her Instagram, including a happy birthday post—directly, writing, “thank you christy. i love you.”
Sweeney has been embroiled in controversy since starring in an American Eagle ad about “great genes,” which some progressive activists described as “Nazi propaganda.”
In the ad, Sweeney—who has blonde hair and blue eyes—tells viewers that “genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,” adding, “My jeans are blue.” The ad then uses the tagline “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” to attempt a play on the phrase “great genes,” a bit of word play that sparked outrage online.
MAGA then seemingly adopted Sweeney after learning she was a registered Republican—a fact The White House praised. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance both supported Sweeney and her ad, with Trump writing on Truth Social: “Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the HOTTEST ad out there. Go get ‘em, Sydney!” Meanwhile, Vance tried to claim that the online outrage was an overreaction.
Addressing the controversy and the president and vice president’s support, Sweeney told GQ that the reaction was “surreal.”
“I did a jean ad,” Sweeney said. “I mean, the reaction was definitely a surprise, but I love jeans. All I wear are jeans. I’m literally in jeans and a T-shirt every day of my life.”
Since the July ad, Sweeney’s crime thriller Americana also flopped at the box office.
The film came in 16th at box offices, only early $840,000 across the 1,100 theaters it was shown at across the nation. That averages out to $460 per theater, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
