'The Housemaid' Just Became Sydney Sweeney's Highest-Grossing Movie
The Housemaid has put an end to the prolonged losing streaks of both star Sydney Sweeney and director Paul Feig, as it continues to break financial records more than a month after its release. Last weekend, its worldwide gross exceeded a beloved 2011 comedy from the filmmaker and became Sweeney and Feig's highest-grossing movie of all time (not adjusted for inflation).
The Housemaid Is Defying All Financial Expectations
As of Monday, Jan. 26, The Housemaid has grossed an extraordinary $294.6 million worldwide against its slim $45 million budget. Over the weekend, it surpassed Feig’s classic comedy Bridesmaids—which amassed $289.6 million worldwide—to become the filmmaker’s highest-grossing film of all time. It’s also Sweeney’s highest-grossing picture as a star, handily surpassing the $220 million worldwide gross of Anyone But You. As it continues to dominate cinemas, it seems likely that Feig’s adaptation of Freida McFadden’s potboiler (the first in a series) could top out in the low-to-mid $300 million range.
The Housemaid’s gross has surprised everyone, and it’s put an end to an elongated losing streak on behalf of both Feig and Sweeney. Sweeney had two other significant theatrical releases in 2025, Americana and Christy, both of which failed to surpass $2 million. Christy took $1.98 million worldwide during its limited release in November. Earnings for Americana were even worse—and harder to pin down. The film did not receive an international theatrical release, and reports indicate that it took somewhere between $500,000 and $840,000 upon its domestic release in August. (For the record, we dug Americana and thought it was vastly underrated.)
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It's Feig's First Hit in a Decade
The Housemaid is also Feig’s first bona fide hit in at least 10 years. His last movie to crack $200 million was his (likewise underrated) Ghostbusters reboot from 2016. That took almost $230 million worldwide; but it was still considered a flop, and Feig has not worked for a major studio since. His last theatrically released film was 2019’s Last Christmas, which took $123 million worldwide. In the intervening years, he made three movies for streaming services—The School for Good and Evil (2022); Jackpot (2024); and Another Simple Favor (2025), a sequel to his 2018 theatrical release—none of which were embraced by critics.
'A Giant Audience...That Needs to Be Served'
The filmmaker has spoken at length about his preference for making female-led films, which have historically been difficult to finance. “I don’t know how many times in my career I’ve had to prove to Hollywood that women will show up at movie theaters, but they still do,” he said. “It happened with Bridesmaids, it happened with Spy, it happened with The Heat, and Simple Favor to a lesser degree, since it didn’t do as well as I wanted to. But it still is considered a success because the budget was so small. It’s just what I do. I do it over and over and over again. The town always seemed so amazed when women show up. So these movies, I don’t know what it’s going to take for people to just get it that this is a giant audience out there that just needs to be served.”
A sequel, The Housemaid’s Secret, has already been greenlit following on from the semi-cliffhanger ending of The Housemaid. Sweeney’s character returns in the sequel; and though insiders note she’s yet to sign a deal to return, it’s understood that she’ll headline any follow-up.