Maggie Gyllenhaal Feminist Frankenstein Movie 'The Bride!' Is Officially One Of Hollywood's Biggest Bombs

You may not have heard of it, but a new retelling of the classic Frankenstein story hit movie theaters several weeks ago. 

Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring big names like Christian Bale, Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Julianne Hough, Penelope Cruz and Annette Bening, "The Bride!" was a proudly feminist-style interpretation of Frankenstein focusing on his wife. And set in the 1930s, for some reason. 

It's not an opinion that the film was made with political ideology in mind, it's what the director quite literally said. "And I wonder if what’s happening culturally is going to bring an unstoppable response, especially from women," Gyllenhaal explained in an interview with The New York Times. "I don’t know if I’ve said this out loud before. Again, maybe I’ll get in trouble, but I actually think that when I really became a director was the morning that [Donald] Trump was first elected. I was like, I have a lot more to say than I’ve been saying."

The review in the Wall Street Journal explained that the "feminist" bent was so obvious and ham-handed that "She even finds a reason to shout 'Me too!' a couple of times."

This isn't necessarily a reason not to make a movie, filmmakers and writers can tell whatever stories they choose. But given this idea's obviously limited potential and clear political orientation, it would make sense for a major studio to give it a limited budget. Maybe $15-25 million, so that any downside is limited. 

Warner Bros. did the exact opposite, and now they're going to pay for it with one of the biggest bombs in the history of the entertainment industry.

US Writer and Director Maggie Gyllenhaal (R) and Warner Brothers CEO Pam Abdy pose upon arrival for the world premiere for the film 'The Bride' in central London on February 26, 2026. (Photo by Brook Mitchell / AFP via Getty Images)

‘The Bride!’ Second Weekend Suffers Massive Decline

Warner Bros. Studios, somehow, decided to give this movie a $90 million budget. A general rule of thumb within Hollywood and the entertainment industry is that studios spend roughly the same to market the movie as they do to produce it. It's not clear if that's the case here, but assuming it is, that would make for a total $180 million cost, just for production and marketing. 

If that's the case, another general rule of thumb is that a film needs to gross somewhere between 2x to 3x its cost to turn a profit, because studios roughly split box office revenues 50/50 with movie theaters. Taking 2.5x as a general middle point for "The Bride!," that's a $450 million worldwide gross to reach profitability.

So how'd it do?

Well, "The Bride!" opened to just $7 million in the United States, despite playing in over 3,300 movie theaters. It's now completed its second weekend at the domestic box office, and again, despite playing in over 3,300 theaters, it dropped over 70% to just $2 million. A catastrophic $632 per theater average. That's not per showing, that's for an entire day. Assuming a $15 ticket price, that's 42 total tickets sold per theater. For an entire day's worth of showings. Over a weekend. 

The total US box office is just over $11 million, and if the film drops another 70% in the third weekend of its release, that's $600,000 total. This movie is heading towards a total gross of around $12-13 million in the United States. On a $90 million budget.

What about internationally? It ain't much better there either. Through the first few weeks of release, it's made $9.3 million total, meaning its total box office is just over $20 million worldwide. Remember, making assumptions about its marketing budget and revenue split, a rough estimate for worldwide gross to reach profitability is $450 million. It's made $20 million, and already dropped 70% in its second weekend, indicating poor reviews, poor word of mouth, and little remaining interest. 

And again, if Warner Bros. did spend $180 million on production and advertising, and got back just half of theatrical revenue, there's a possibility they would bring in a grand total of $11-15 million from "The Bride!"

That would be a $160-170 million loss for Warner Bros. Because they signed off on a $90 million budget for a feminist retelling of Frankenstein made because the director was upset Donald Trump got elected. Quite literally one of the largest bombs in the history of the entertainment industry. 

It's worth wondering, how is this worth it? Yes, Hollywood views political activism as one of its main goals. But losing $160-170 million just to "get Trump" with a feminist version of Frankenstein? That's really what they want to be doing? This is what happens when an entire business puts ideology ahead of its customers. There's clearly no demand for a movie like this. They made it anyway. Hollywood became what it is because most of their big films appealed to a wide audience. Classic stories that enhanced the human experience. What they're doing now is precisely the opposite. And they're paying for it, big time.