Sydney Sweeney’s ‘Christy’ Box Office Flop Sparks Alleged PR Damage Control Emails (And Naturally, The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing)
By Erin Whitten
Sydney Sweeney’s latest film Christy may be throwing some punches in the ring, but at the box office it’s… let’s just call it a first-round TKO, yeah? The film had a dismal opening weekend of $1.3 million domestically across over 2,000 theaters, an underwhelming result that falls firmly in the range of “unfortunate” to “oof.” And according to some people on social media, the actress’s team is frantically sending emails asking critics to focus on the positives. Senior culture writer Eric Italiano claimed he received an email that came across as a full-on request to change his headline and look at the brighter side of things, which was made all the worse by the emphasis on audience scores specifically, 99% on Popcornmeter. It’s not every day you hear about a PR rep whose voice inflection sounds like a lottery winner on the other end of the phone, but as Italiano’s post went viral, I’ve been there too.
In short, one man’s tough love is another woman’s PR nightmare, and the emails have been piling up on social media faster than Usain Bolt. A few days prior, another filmmaker posted a meme about Christy being forced to choke herself to death to appeal to a certain online crowd; the image of actor Sean Penn sharing a “Woah dude”-style reaction GIF was captioned with a joke about people who need to understand why domestic violence might not just be beat ‘em up beat ’em ups for some people. The response, apparently direct from Paradigm Talent Agency (Sweeney’s management firm), was a curt email that chastised the man for “reducing an original project to a cheap shot.” Say what you will about the comedian’s approach to dealing with box-office drama, but between these posts and Italiano’s the response, you know, felt very PR-speak-y.
The claims about the filmmakers’ notes quickly went viral not just for the story’s fishy nature, but for the way the emails themselves read like the self-serious rage-fuelled-but-kind-of-apologetic-first-act-monologue of a Marvel villain with more money than brains and a button that says “send.” Italiano, for his part, has interviewed everyone from Ana de Armas to Nicolas Cage, but he shared his alleged email with the message that Sweeney’s team “is down bad.” The internet agreed the tweet has six million views and a comments section that is all too eager to dish the lit Ronda Rousey treatment on all involved, especially if anyone on her team deigns to show up here. I didn’t get an email yet, but based on the Instagram screenshots, it does sound a lot like Sweeney’s camp than say, whoever is impersonating her in a fit of bored misanthropy today…so I’ll be WAITING.
The kicker here is the timing and by that I mean both the discourse development on social media but also the more macro scope of the film’s slowest-flickering opening light at the box office. Christy has a 66% Tomatometer rating, a decent-enough critical reception that highlights Sweeney’s raw vulnerability and commitment to Martin’s story. Audiences, on the other hand, have sent the Rotten score to a lopsided 97% based on their positive reception, which feels a lot more attuned to the emotional stakes of Christy Martin’s journey to self-discovery and the brutality and artistry of her fights in the ring.
Sweeney, however, has skipped all of the drama, opting instead to champion the spirit of what Christy means to her. On Instagram, she shared that Christy was the most important job of her career and a project that she is immensely proud of, regardless of what opening weekend looks like. She called attention to the goal of bringing awareness to domestic violence through Christy Martin’s story and the creative’s hope that the film might reach someone in a similar situation. Sweeney has previously opened up about how she connected to this story in many ways, using acting as a freedom of expression, her own version of throwing hands. That fight was real for Christy Martin, who found both world-class success and stomach-turning abuse in the form of her husband, Ray, and trainer (played by Ben Foster), Sweeney has made it clear that she will share her love and respect for the boxer everywhere she can.
Between these posts and the directorial effort of Tom Bird (who had made the same point about championing this project and letting the facts speak for themselves) opinions are out, with Variety calling it “a wrenching portrait of abuse” and The Guardian not quite seeing the point of the film, given that it might not resonate as intended. On IMDb, Christy receives a mild 6.1 out of 10 from the audience, which at this point seems to be more a measure of trolling than a true measure of enjoyment or not.
If nothing else, whether her team is doing damage control in emergency mode, moderate mid-spin, or absolutely nothing at all, the public back and forth around the film is, unquestionably, generating more conversation than what the opening weekend alone could. It’s ironic, sure, but not entirely shocking in a landscape where a film’s box-office performance sometimes depends more on whose email shows up on social media or in your spam folder and all through it, Sweeney, at least, remains unruffled to the public eye and quick to champion what she signed up for.
