‘Verity’ Is Poised To Hand Anne Hathaway Yet Another Box Office Crown

Anne Hathaway has turned this year into a genuine career renaissance, and the box office charts are proving it. ‘Verity’ marks her fifth film in theaters this year, following ‘The Odyssey’, ‘The End of Oak Street’, ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’, and ‘Mother Mary’. Now, the Anne Hathaway ‘Verity’ box office run is shaping up to extend that remarkable streak.

The R-rated psychological thriller is directed by Michael Showalter and adapted from Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel. Dakota Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer hired to finish the bestselling series of injured author Verity Crawford, played by Hathaway, only to uncover a manuscript of disturbing confessions about Verity’s husband, played by Josh Hartnett.

Heading into the weekend, the numbers look very promising. According to Variety, the film is targeting a domestic debut of $30 million to $35 million from 3,510 theaters. That should be enough to register as Hathaway’s third No. 1 opening of the year, following ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ and ‘The Odyssey’.

Not every forecast is quite so bullish. Box Office Theory pegs the opening at $24 million to $34 million, while Amazon MGM Studios itself is projecting a $27 million to $30 million debut. On the more optimistic end, Box Office Pro’s long-range forecast came in at $30 million to $40 million.

What makes those numbers especially impressive is the price tag. According to Variety, ‘Verity’ carried a production budget of $40 million before marketing expenses. That makes even the more conservative projections a healthy result for the studio.

Dakota Johnson stars alongside Josh Hartnett in this new clip from #Verity.

The Colleen Hoover film adaptation releases in theaters this weekend. pic.twitter.com/5tBW5g2QDN

— Rotten Tomatoes 🍅 (@RottenTomatoes) September 30, 2026

Analysts are already calling it a potential sleeper success. SlashFilm argued that the reasonable budget makes the domestic outlook very favorable even before overseas ticket sales are considered. If tracking holds, the film is on course for the second-biggest debut ever among Colleen Hoover adaptations, behind ‘It Ends with Us’, which opened to $50 million.

The weekend also features a fascinating head-to-head. In a box office surprise, ‘Verity’ is expected to rule over Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’, which is shaping up to be one of the year’s biggest bombs with projections of $12 million to $15 million from 3,300 screens. Some observers believe Hathaway’s thriller could easily triple that film’s opening weekend.

Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett star in an all-new trailer for #Verity.

In theaters October 2. pic.twitter.com/niq02J5nO5

— Rotten Tomatoes 🍅 (@RottenTomatoes) August 11, 2026

There’s an added twist to the matchup. Hathaway is set to co-star with Cruise in the upcoming ‘Days of Thunder 2’, making this weekend’s showdown a friendly rivalry between future castmates.

Reviews for the thriller have been mixed. World of Reel reported a 45% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 44 on Metacritic, with a recurring complaint that Showalter never fully commits to the trashiness the material demands. Still, Hathaway’s performance has emerged as the one thing critics largely agree on.

That divide is nothing new for this author’s work. Every Hoover movie so far has received a rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes, yet several still became box office hits. With Hoover’s loyal readership driving interest, the film looks well-positioned to defy its reviews.

The film runs 1 hour and 54 minutes, with Thursday previews ahead of its nationwide release on Friday, October 2. If audiences show up as expected, it will cap off a historic year for its leading lady. Hathaway’s hot streak spans prestige epics, beloved sequels, and now a buzzy literary thriller. Few stars have shown this kind of range and box office consistency in a single year.

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