Is Christy a flop? Sydney Sweeney PR controversy explained

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Even before her film Christy came out, Sydney Sweeney was being discussed as a possible Oscar nominee. However, recent reports suggest her publicity team contacted critics and labeled the movie a failure, following a disappointing initial reception.

Okay, look, I’m not saying everything Hunter Schafer does is for everyone, but you have to admit, she’s a master at getting people talking! I was so surprised when she started selling her old bathwater earlier this year – it went totally viral! She teamed up with Dr. Squatch to make limited-edition soap, and honestly, it was brilliant, even if a little wild.

Soon after, she became the focus of a public debate because of an American Eagle ad campaign that playfully highlighted her “good jeans.” Some people strongly criticized the ad, even calling it “fascist propaganda,” and several celebrities publicly disagreed with her after she spoke about it in an interview with GQ.

Sweeney is currently gaining a lot of attention for a new movie role. She plays boxer Christy Martin in a film about her life, which has received varied reviews. Currently, people are most interested in how well the movie is performing in theaters. Please be aware that this article touches on mature subject matter.

Is Christy a flop?

Whether a movie is considered a “flop” really depends on how you define it. Generally, a film is labeled a flop if it loses money for the studio – meaning it doesn’t earn enough from ticket sales to cover the costs of making and promoting it.

So far, the movie Christy hasn’t been successful. It earned just $1.3 million after opening in over 2,000 US theaters. The cost to make the film is unclear, with estimates ranging from $15 to $40 million, but these numbers haven’t been officially confirmed.

As a movie fan, it’s always a little disappointing to hear about box office ‘successes’ that aren’t actually profitable. Apparently, a movie doesn’t just need to earn back what it cost to make it. It actually needs to make around 2.5 times that amount to break even! That’s because of all the extra expenses – things like advertising, the fees theaters charge, creating merchandise, and taxes all add up. So, a $100 million movie needs to bring in about $250 million just to get out of the red!

On top of everything else, movie studios only get to keep half to sixty percent of the money earned at the box office – and even less from overseas. This means Christy’s movie would need to earn around $17.5 million just to cover its costs, before anyone even starts making a profit.

There’s more to this story than it seems. While critics gave the movie “Christy” a fairly average rating (67% on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences absolutely loved it, giving it a score of 97%.

As IndieWire pointed out, the popular tweets claiming Christy’s film had one of the 15 worst opening weekends ever for a movie in over 2,000 theaters might not tell the whole story.

As a gamer, when I heard about the numbers, it just felt…selective, you know? Like, what exactly are they comparing it to? What other big games came out around the same time? It makes a huge difference!

I love movies like this and The Smashing Machine because they really prioritize artistic vision over making a ton of money. They’re the kind of films that focus on interesting characters and telling a unique story, not just trying to be the next big blockbuster.

Sweeney doesn’t seem worried by the statistics, sharing on Instagram her gratitude to everyone who connected with the story and will continue to do so. She believes that if the film helped even one woman find the courage to seek safety, it will have been a success.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sydney Sweeney (@sydney_sweeney)

Yes, I’m proud of this work because we focus on making art that truly matters, not just on getting views or likes. ‘Christy’ has been the most meaningful project I’ve ever been a part of.

Looking at just the data, as many people online have pointed out, this isn’t a positive outcome.

Between the recent controversies surrounding her and the poor reception of her other movies this year, like Americana and Eden, it’s becoming clear that the Euphoria actress’s popularity is quickly declining.

Okay, so I’ve noticed things are different with this actress lately. She’s going to be in Season 3 of that HBO show everyone’s talking about, and she’s got a movie based on ‘The Housemaid’ coming out next month. It feels like her team is really pushing things now, you know? They’re definitely getting more involved with her public image.

Sydney Sweeney PR controversy

The issue started on Monday, November 10th, when a writer for Brobible, Eric Italiano, posted a screenshot of an email he received. The email asked him to change a headline about the movie ‘Christy’ to highlight its positive audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

got this PR email today, never got one like it before — her team’s down BAD

— Eric Italiano (@ericitaIiano) November 11, 2025

The email asks to change the headline to highlight that even though the movie didn’t do well in theaters, audiences loved it – it has a 99% positive rating on Popcornmeter! They emphasize that the film is a success based on audience reaction, regardless of box office numbers.

Italiano shared a screenshot and explained they received a strange PR email, noting the sender’s team seemed to be struggling significantly.

Soon after, filmmaker Brian Long posted a similar email he claimed to have received. This one was a response to a DiscusssingFilm post that said the movie Christy had “one of the worst opening weekends ever for a film playing in over 2,000 theaters.”

So, Long responded with this meme – it basically joked about white supremacists being upset about seeing white women in movies. It was clearly referencing that whole thing with the American Eagle ad and how Donald Trump actually gave Hunter Sweeney a shout-out, like he approved of him or something. It was a pretty pointed comment, making fun of the whole situation.

It seems Sydney Sweeney does have a PR team, but they’re focusing on damage control for poor box office numbers instead of addressing the underlying issues caused by a series of public relations missteps. This is a short-sighted approach. Nicole Perna and her team should be aware that this situation was both repairable and, more importantly, preventable.

— Phantom (@effoff1988) November 11, 2025

On X (formerly Twitter) today, November 11th, Long posted that they believe Sydney Sweeney’s public relations team is attempting to fix a problematic tweet, and they found the situation amusing.

Attached is a screenshot of an email that begins, “We are contacting you on behalf of Sydney Sweeney and her team at Christy.”

We’re disappointed by your critical tweet about our film. Despite overwhelmingly positive audience feedback – a 99% score on the Popcorn Meter – and rave reviews, especially for Sydney’s performance, your comment unfairly portrays the film negatively. It’s frustrating to see an original project dismissed with a quick, negative online comment.

“We’d appreciate more balanced thought next time, especially towards original cinema.”

The tweets have gone viral, attracting thousands of comments and views. Many people are criticizing Sweeney’s recent actions, including how she handled the situations with American Eagle and the bathwater soap, and her relationships with Jeff Bezos and Scooter Braun.

One commenter pointed out that while Sydney Sweeney has a PR team, they seem focused on downplaying poor box office results instead of addressing the reasons behind the negative publicity caused by her own mistakes. They called this approach a bad strategy.

Someone pointed out that Sydney Sweeney’s PR team is circulating old, negative tweets about her new movie, seemingly suggesting she brought the criticism on herself.

But some people have come to the film and Sweeney’s defense, arguing that it’s inappropriate for those who received the emails to post them online.

Films like Fight Club and Office Space didn’t do well in theaters initially, but became hugely popular over time. Don’t count these early setbacks against a movie’s potential.

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2025-11-11 20:51