Anne Hathaway achieves third North American box office number one of the year with ‘Verity’

The psychological thriller ‘Verity’, starring Anne Hathaway, rose to the top of the North American box office during its opening weekend. According to the American film criticism site Rotten Tomatoes, ‘Verity’ earned 32.6 million dollars in North America from the 2nd to the 4th (local time). This is the third time this year that a film starring Anne Hathaway has taken number one at the North American box office, following ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ and ‘The Odyssey’. ‘Verity’, which had a production budget of 40 million dollars, earned over 62 million dollars worldwide during its opening weekend. The film, based on the novel of the same name by bestselling author Colleen Hoover, also stars Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett. Hathaway participated not only as the lead but also as a producer.

Third North American box office number one this year

According to Rotten Tomatoes, ‘Verity’ started at number one at the box office, earning 32.6 million dollars during its first opening weekend in North America from the 2nd to the 4th. The film cost 40 million dollars to produce, and its worldwide revenue for the opening weekend exceeded 62 million dollars. The North American revenue and worldwide revenue are calculated within different scopes. The amount earned in North America alone during the opening weekend was close to the production cost, and the worldwide opening weekend revenue exceeded the production cost.

‘Verity’ is Hathaway's third North American box office number one hit this year. Previously, ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ and Christopher Nolan's ‘The Odyssey’ each achieved box office success. ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ earned 693.3 million dollars worldwide, and ‘The Odyssey’ recorded 1.76 billion dollars in worldwide revenue. ‘The Odyssey’ rose to 11th place in the all-time box office rankings. American media outlets are calling Hathaway, who has taken the number one spot in three works this year, the "Queen of the 2026 Box Office".

40 million dollar production cost, 62 million dollars worldwide during opening weekend

‘Verity’ is one of the films released in October that earned between 30 million and 40 million dollars during its first weekend. According to Rotten Tomatoes, this work includes David Fincher's thriller ‘Gone Girl’. The worldwide revenue for ‘Verity’ during its opening weekend exceeded 62 million dollars, though there is still a difference in revenue scale compared to works that have surpassed 100 million dollars.

Rotten Tomatoes reported the box office trend for ‘Verity’ and predicted that it would surpass this record by next weekend. The site introduced ‘Verity’ as a "distant cousin" to director Fincher's thriller ‘Gone Girl’. While both works belong to the thriller genre, ‘Verity’ is a story based on Colleen Hoover's novel. The opening weekend revenue, production cost, and the director's previous highest-grossing film records are figures calculated by different standards.

Based on Colleen Hoover's novel... a psychological thriller starting from a manuscript

The original work of ‘Verity’ is the novel of the same name by bestselling author Colleen Hoover, known for ‘It Ends with Us’. The story centers on Verity, a popular author who becomes unable to move due to an accident, and an unknown author who must complete Verity's novel instead. While working at Verity's house, the unknown author discovers a manuscript containing a terrible confession. The events that unfold after discovering that manuscript form the plot of the movie.

Hathaway played the character Verity, who shares the film's title, and also participated in the production. Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett appear together. The original text reported that there were not many positive reactions from critics. Rotten Tomatoes stated, "Critics did not agree, but audiences seem to be enthusiastic." This explains that the critic evaluations and audience reactions appeared differently. The film was introduced as a psychological thriller centered on the author in the novel, the manuscript, and the confession discovered by the unknown author in Verity's house.

Hathaway, who has continued appearing in thrillers, her next work is with Tom Cruise

This is not the first time Hathaway has appeared in a thriller. According to the original text, starting with ‘Passengers’ (2008), she participated in ‘Serenity’ (2019) with Matthew McConaughey, the Netflix film ‘The Last Thing He Wanted’ (2020), ‘Eileen’ (2023), and ‘Mothers' Instinct’ (2024) starring Jessica Chastain. In ‘Verity’, she took on the role of the author Verity. Her previous works include roles of different characters besides thrillers, such as the princess in ‘The Princess Diaries’ and Penelope in ‘The Odyssey’.

‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ and ‘The Odyssey’, released this year, recorded 693.3 million dollars and 1.76 billion dollars in worldwide revenue, respectively. ‘Verity’ rose to number one at the North American box office during its opening weekend, standing at the top for the third time among Hathaway's works this year following these two works. The original text reported that Hathaway will also join the sequel to Tom Cruise's representative work ‘Days of Thunder’. In this work, Hathaway will appear in a movie with Cruise for the first time.

‘Verity’ is scheduled to be released in South Korea on October 22. In North America, it started at number one at the box office during its opening weekend, and the production cost and worldwide opening weekend revenue were also revealed. Korean audiences will be able to encounter the psychological thriller based on Colleen Hoover's novel through a theatrical release. It is a work in which Hathaway participates as both lead and producer, with Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett appearing together.

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