Sydney Sweeney’s ‘pandering’ is one reason her movie tanked, fans say

Sydney Sweeney s latest film Christy suffered one of the worst opening weekends for a new movie disclosed wide on more than theaters in the past years and industry analysts the film s studio and Sweeney herself are left to wonder why it failed so miserably After all Sweeney is one of the majority of famous and hyped young actors working right now Christy in which she stars as Hall of Fame boxer Christy Martin was supposed to showcase her acting talents and maybe garner her an Academy Award nomination But audiences clearly were not interested Over on r boxoffice a sub-Reddit district focused on discussions about movies box-office performance specific people disclosed the distributor didn t do enough to promote Christy which only earned million over the weekend Others declared audiences just don t care for gritty sports biopics about troubled fighters as also shown by the underwhelming box office for Dwayne Johnson s The Smashing Machine even though Johnson usually delivers box-office hits and received acclaim for his performance Others say Sweeney has been too over-exposed or that her club has tried too hard to promote her as a buxom sex symbol instead of a serious actress by having her hawk soap made with her bath water or pose for a Lolita -inspired photo shoot Still others say that indie movies or mid-level adult dramas just don t make money like they used to or that the Emmy-nominated Euphoria star has never really been a box-office draw This is her third straight box-office disappointment of NEW YORK NEW YORK - AUGUST A window display of actress Sydney Sweeney is seen on a window of an American Eagle store on August in New York City American Eagle s latest denim ad campaign featuring Sweeney has drawn backlash for language and imagery that critics say echoes eugenics-era rhetoric following a tagline referencing great genes alongside visuals of Sweeney in blue jeans Photo by Michael M Santiago Getty Images But much discussion has focused on Sweeney s participation this past summer in a controversial ad for American Eagle jeans and whether that made her toxic to a segment of movie-going audiences The ad was criticized for using the slogan Sydney Sweeney has great jeans which appeared to play on the idea that the white blond blue-eyed actress has great genes Yahoo broadcasted Both she and the ad were accused of promoting language around eugenics and racial superiority As Sweeney was attacked by people on the left side of the political aisle she became a darling of the right with President Donald Trump taking to social media to praise and defend her especially after he heard she was a registered Republican It appears that Sweeney didn t do herself and potentially Christy any favors by trying to sidestep the debate while doing press for the movie In a cover for GQ magazine the writer Katherine Stoeffel gave Sweeney several chances to respond to the conflict according to Yahoo and to clips of the interview posted on X When Stoeffel mentioned that in in the present day s political situation white people joking about genetic superiority could be considered offensive Sweeney replied I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about people will hear To a few expected Christy viewers Sweeney s response sounded like a refusal to denounce the racist reading of the ad Yahoo released She also noted she didn t have time to focus on the debate because she had been busy working on the upcoming season of Euphoria She insisted that the message of the ad was just about denim and self-confidence not about anything else She mentioned 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 This image distributed by Black Bear shows Sydney Sweeney in a scene from Christy Eddy Chen Black Bear via AP Sweeney s reluctance to address people s concerns about the ad s racist reading disappointed fans according to one person in the r boxoffice sub-Reddit Sydney in the past has been pro-BLM pro-LGBTQ pro-choice pro-planned parenthood the person announced So her being a registered Republican who refuses to push back on Trump s praise for her alienated a lot of her fans who are now being vocal about how disgusted they are with her Another person announced they don t care about a person s political affiliation but plenty of Sweeney s female fans and LGBTQ fans are grossed out The person continued The MAGA crowd insisted she would now be a huge box-office draw It didn t work All movies she was in that came out after Trump praised her for being Republican have now flopped In short her female fans and LGBTQ fans feel that she sold them out in order to pander to MAGA dudes who think women exist just to be sex objects and have babies Sweeney s decision to smugly blow off questions from the GQ reporter may not have caused Christy to bomb another person commented But IMO she has done several legit damage to her image and appeal and when your movie is already an uphill battle that doesn t help Several people pointed out that Christy was an indie film with a niche appeal It tells the story of Christy Martin s ascension to fame in the s as she becomes one of America s first famous female boxers as well as how she had to escape an abusive marriage to her trainer-turned-husband Variety s Owen Gleiberman praised Christy as a powerfully compelling and atypical boxing biopic for which Sweeney gives a potent true-note game-changing knockout of a performance Other reviews were more mixed and it only holds a Rotten Tomatoes rating from several critics People on the r boxoffice sub-Reddit pointed out that audiences for indie movies tend to be left-leaning urban dwellers Whoever Sydney Sweeney is trying to pander to do not care to buy tickets of her films one person declared They just worship her on social media To Redditors Sweeney s next box-office test comes in December with the psychological thriller The Housemaid Directed by Paul Feig it also stars Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar and could turn things around for Sweeney especially given that the movie is based on the best-selling novel of the same name Meanwhile Sweeney shrugged off Christy s failure to connect with theater audiences this past week We don t unfailingly just make art for numbers we make it for impact she stated in a lengthy Instagram message to her million followers And Christy has been the majority of impactful project of my life