‘Verity’ explodes at the box office: Anne Hathaway heading for first place with $25–32 million on debut

The thriller “Verity”, the fourth film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novels, is exploding at the American box office. According to tracking by “Global Box Office”, the Amazon MGM Studios film is benefiting from an extraordinary surge of walk-up ticket purchases and strong Friday sales, putting it on track for a weekend debut of $25–32 million — enough for an easy first place.

The surge is impressive compared with initial forecasts: the same tracking had earlier estimated the film at only $19–25 million based on pre-sales. The more optimistic figures come from the industry trades themselves: “Variety” predicts $30–35 million from 3,510 cinemas, “TheWrap” speaks of $35 million, while “Deadline” sees the domestic debut above $30 million — with potential to exceed expectations thanks to sales to Hoover’s audience. According to “Deadline”, outside the U.S. the film has a chance of $20–25 million in 70 territories, which would take the global launch to $50–55 million.

The weekend’s rival, Tom Cruise’s “Digger”, is expected to open with only $12–15 million from 3,300 screens — meaning “Verity” could triple its opening. For Amazon MGM Studios, which produced the film for $40 million, a strong opening would be a turnaround after the summer failure of “Masters of the Universe”, which grossed only $113 million globally against a $200 million budget, as ComicBasics writes.

If the forecasts hold, this will be Anne Hathaway’s third consecutive number-one opening in 2026 — after “The Devil Wears Prada 2” ($77 million) and “The Odyssey” ($123.5 million). All this in a year when the film starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, directed by Michael Showalter, holds only 43% on Rotten Tomatoes — fresh proof that Hoover’s loyal readership largely ignores the critics, as happened with “Reminders of Him” ($89 million on a $25 million budget) and “It Ends with Us” ($351 million).