Verity Box Office: Loses 500 Theatres in Week 3

The Verity box office story has taken a sharp turn in its third week. Amazon MGM's Colleen Hoover adaptation, starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, has lost 500 North American theatres as exhibitors pull screens following a brutal second-weekend slide. According to figures attributed to The Numbers, the film's domestic theatre count has dropped from 3,572 to 3,072 locations — roughly a 14% cut — even as its worldwide total nears $119 million against a reported $40 million production budget.

The Numbers Behind the Cut

Verity opened on October 2, 2026 in 3,510 North American theatres and was actually widened to 3,572 for its second weekend. The cut to 3,072 venues reverses that expansion and then some. Theatre-count trims like this are routine — exhibitors typically give a major release about two weeks before reallocating screens — but the scale here tells a story of cooling demand. With new releases like Street Fighter's $31M No. 1 weekend and Whalefall's $7.3M opening disaster arriving this weekend, every screen holding a fading title is a screen a newcomer cannot use.

A Strong Start Undone by Weak Legs

The decline is a dramatic reversal from the film's debut. Verity opened at No. 1 at the domestic box office with over $32 million — roughly $9,126 per theatre — then collapsed 63% in its second weekend to about $12 million, falling to No. 2. The per-theatre average sank to around $3,361, and by Thursday, October 15, the film was reportedly taking just $1 million a day across all 3,572 locations — about $280 each. Reviews have not helped: the film sits in the low 30s on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences gave it a weak C+ CinemaScore, which rarely leads to strong word of mouth.

Can Verity Stay Profitable?

Here is the paradox: despite the screen losses, the film has grossed an estimated $58.9 million domestically and $60.1 million internationally — nearly three times its reported $40 million budget. But box-office gross is not studio profit. Theatres take a percentage of ticket sales, and the publicly reported budget does not include marketing and distribution costs. Directed by Michael Showalter and written by Nick Antosca and Colleen Hoover, the psychological thriller has clearly earned back its production cost at the box office, but whether it finishes as a real moneymaker for Amazon MGM depends on costs the studio has not disclosed.

What Comes Next for Verity

Verity still has runway. Several international markets are yet to open, and a home-video release is reportedly slated for later this month, which will extend its earning life beyond theatres. With the Hoover fanbase — the opening-weekend audience reportedly skewed 78% female — the film could still settle into a respectable final total. The question now is not whether Verity made money on its budget, but how much of its early momentum survives the exhibitors' verdict. Five hundred fewer screens is the market's answer so far.

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