Leaked Emails Show Sydney Sweeney's Team In Panic Over 'Christy' Box Office Disaster

Sydney Sweeney's PR machine scrambled as her boxing biopic Christy opened to near-catastrophic receipts.

The film, which cast Sweeney as the trailblazing boxer Christy Martin, has become an unlikely industry flashpoint. A high-profile release with strong festival notices that yielded a punishing opening weekend and, according to a wave of circulating screenshots, sparked urgent outreach from representatives trying to reframe the narrative.

Those screenshots and social posts, amplified by entertainment pages and influencers, purport to show PR messages urging a shift in coverage from box-office figures to the film's social impact.

Box Office Figures and the Scale of the Setback

Christy earned just £998,000 ($1.3m) in its opening weekend after debuting on more than 2,000 screens, a performance industry trackers called one of the weakest openings for a film on that scale.

For a picture invested with awards-season hopes and a reported production budget in the region of $15m, the returns are stark and immediate, prompting observers to question marketing strategy, release timing, and the extent to which controversy around its star altered audience appetite.

Screenshots circulating online and posted by users on X present what they say are internal PR notes and outreach templates.

The material, as shared, appears to advise contacts to foreground the film's message on domestic violence, charitable partnerships, and the lead's commitment to the role, rather than the raw weekend take, effectively a pivot from commercial to cultural framing.

That shift is a recognised tactic in crisis communication, but the public nature of the leak has inflamed criticism that the team sought to steer coverage rather than address questions of marketing or creative missteps.

Sydney Sweeney's Response and the Wider Context

Sweeney herself has pushed back from the commercial framing. In an Instagram post responding to reactions, she wrote that 'we do not always just make art for the numbers' and described the film as 'the most impactful project of my life'.

The actress has also been interviewed at length in outlets including GQ and People, where she discussed the physical transformation and emotional labour of portraying Christy Martin, and defended the film's aim to raise awareness of domestic abuse.

Nevertheless, the Instagram post and press interviews have done little to halt online mockery and commentary linking box-office performance to wider controversies the star has weathered this year.

Cast, Crew, and the Story Behind the Film

Beyond headlines and spreadsheet arithmetic lies a story. Sweeney and co-stars have spoken about the film's purpose, telling Christy Martin's arc from athletic pioneer to survivor of domestic violence, and the production's work with charities and survivors' groups during promotion.

Multiple reviews singled out Sweeney's performance for praise, even where critics faulted the screenplay or tone. That critical nuance has become a central talking point for defenders who say box-office figures do not erase the film's potential real-world impact for survivors who see their experiences reflected on screen.

The leaked messages and the public reaction amount to more than an industry story about ticket sales. They illustrate how modern film launches are battles not only for audiences in cinemas but also for narratives across social platforms, and how quickly private strategy can be reshaped into public controversy when screenshots circulate.

Christy may yet find a second life on streaming platforms or through awards season reassessments, but for now, the conversation is dominated by two parallel questions — what went wrong commercially and how should teams handle the fallout when they try to control the message.

Sydney Sweeney told followers she remains 'proud' of the film and of telling a story she believes can 'save lives'. The challenge for the film's backers is to ensure that the message is heard on its merits rather than drowned out by the noise of leaked memos and rapidly proliferating social commentary.