By Drew Dietsch
| Published
For all the saliva-drenched Sydney Sweeney sycophants out there, it’s time to admit that the working actress has yet to truly achieve the status of movie star. Oh sure, she’s been working in the industry for plenty of years now, and she’s certainly taken advantage of her celebrity status thanks to prominent television roles. But, other than a culture war commercial campaign and a movie everyone forgot about in quick succession (Anyone But You), she has yet to find a truly successful place as a pop culture lightning rod in the medium we give the most cultural importance: movies.
In fact, Sydney Sweeney just proved she is not at the level of a movie star this weekend at the box office. If the response to Americana is any indication, the blonde bombshell can definitely emphasize the “bomb” part of that moniker.
America Rejects Sydney Sweeney’s Americana
Sydney Sweeney was poised front and center as a movie star for Americana, a dark crime comedy that opened at the number 16 spot at the box office with a reported $500,000 total take. Now, the tendency at first would be to look at how many screens it released on and gauge that relative to its performance. Americana opened on just over 1100 screens, which isn’t a wide release but a decent get for a smaller picture.
However, in this instance, that makes Sydney Sweeney and her movie star bid with Americana only look weaker; the film is one of the worst openings in history for a movie given over 1000 screens on its initial debut run. Even in the places where Americana was playing, it was not remotely interesting to a significant audience. That definitely means that Sydney Sweeney being at the forefront did not move enough interest to get necessary foot traffic to her star vehicle.
Whether Americana is a good or bad movie is irrelevant to this particular discussion. Critics seem to lean positive on it, but its perceived quality isn’t the topic here. What matters is that Sydney Sweeney has been trying to get her movie star role and project, and it simply has not happened yet.
You Can Drool At Home Better Than At The Movies
It’s not like she hasn’t been trying. Remember Madame Web? you know, that movie that existed as a meme joke for most folks and then was quickly discarded? Or do you recall Immaculate, where she produced and starred in a forgettable nunspoitation flick that got utterly trounced by the awesomeness of The First Omen in that same year? Or how about Eden, a Ron Howard movie that I know I saw marketing for but it left my brain as if I’d watched nothing at all?
Maybe the hands on the clock just haven’t aligned for her yet, and the incredible power of Sydney Sweeney’s acting talent will be on display in a movie coming out very soon. She’s got that true story boxing movie Christy coming out and it looks like she’s doing the usual awardbait of “making an actor look less like the perfectly crafted pretty persona/image and more like one of You People.”
That’s a viable tactic, Sydney Sweeney! An emotional true story sports flick with a makeup job and physical transformation is always a road to movie stardom. It’s her in Christy and Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine going toe-to-toe for the Blandest Hollywood Sports Movie of the Year in my book.
Sydney Sweeney isn’t a movie star yet. She’s certainly angling for it but she has yet to prove audiences will go to the movie theater because she’s one of the main attractions. Maybe she’s better off milking her adoring public through streaming features and TV shows. I’m sure they prefer appreciating her massive talents in the comfort and privacy of their own homes.
