The Housemaid, the psychological thriller starring Sydney Sweeney, has officially crossed $401 million at the global box office — on a production budget of just $35 million — cementing itself as the biggest theatrical hit of Sweeney’s career and one of the year’s most striking commercial success stories.
Released on December 19, 2025, the film opened to a solid $19 million in North America, a debut that belied the phenomenon to come. The R-rated psychological thriller, directed by Paul Feig and adapted from Freida McFadden’s bestselling novel, earned $116 million domestically while a particularly impressive $189 million came from international markets before its run expanded further. It dominated the PVOD charts after its digital release on February 3, spending 40 days in the top 10 on both the Apple TV store and Amazon’s platform — often at number one.
The film surpassed Anyone But You, Sweeney’s 2023 rom-com that earned $220 million against a $25 million budget, to become her highest-grossing starring vehicle. The success also made history for director Paul Feig: The Housemaid overtook his 2011 comedy Bridesmaids, which grossed $289 million, to become the biggest film of his career.
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chairman Adam Fogelson credited the film’s achievement to casting and creative alignment, saying it demonstrated “what can be accomplished when the right stars are matched with brilliant filmmakers and captivating material.”
The film’s reception was broadly positive. On Rotten Tomatoes, 73% of critics reviewed it favorably, with the site’s consensus praising Amanda Seyfried’s “delightfully unnerving performance” and calling the film a “sly throwback to the lurid thrillers that used to dominate multiplexes.” Audience sentiment ran even warmer, with a 92% approval score. Some critics, however, were divided on Sweeney’s performance specifically — viewer reviews noted that while the film’s atmosphere and suspense held up, opinions on her lead performance ranged from strong praise to pointed skepticism.
The film’s success arrives after a bruising year for Sweeney commercially. Three of her 2025 releases — a biographical boxing drama, a survival thriller, and a long-delayed indie — all failed at the box office, with combined earnings barely reaching $60 million against significant combined budgets.
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Lionsgate has already moved aggressively on a sequel. The Housemaid’s Secret, based on McFadden’s follow-up novel, will bring back Sweeney and Feig, with Kirsten Dunst joining the cast. Lionsgate’s motion picture group president Erin Westerman called Dunst “an icon” with “extraordinary range and fearlessness.” The sequel is scheduled for December 17, 2027, placing it directly against Marvel’s Avengers: Secret Wars.
The December release window appears to be a deliberate part of the strategy — Anyone But You also launched in December 2023 and quietly built into a blockbuster through word of mouth. Two years later, The Housemaid repeated the formula almost exactly.
