We might only be in March but 2026 has already seen more than its fair share of film flops.
From horror sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and Chris Pratt’s sci-fi epic Mercy, through to the much-maligned documentary Melania, there are already a host of stars with their names next to box office bombs.
However, another blockbuster has joined the ranks of the underperformers after slumping to a hugely disappointing opening weekend. The movie in question? The Bride!
Yep, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s audacious re-imagining of The Bride Of Frankenstein might have opened in a blaze of publicity, and it might come complete with a stellar cast including Oscar favourite Jessie Buckley and The Dark Knight’s Christian Bale, but even that wasn’t enough to save it.
According to Deadline, the movie, with a budget of $80m (£63m), scored an opening weekend in the US of just $7.3m (£5.8m). And the overall figures weren’t much better, with a worldwide gross of just $13.6m (£10.8m).
And the website has said industry sources predict The Bride! could lose as much as $90m (£71m) once marketing costs are taken into account.
The figures saw the film place a distant third at the US box office over the weekend, behind Scream 7 and Pixar’s newest film Hoppers, which vaulted into the top spot with an impressive $46m (£36.5m) opening weekend.
It’s also way behind Guillermo del Toro’s best picture nominee Frankenstein, which was watched 33 million times in its first week when it dropped onto Netflix last November.
While a number of factors have been cited for The Bride!’s possible failure – from the huge budget through to the change in release date from last October in the wake of del Toro’s film – it’s also been suggested reviews have played a part.
The movie, which has a 59% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, has divided critics with some praising the visuals, Gyllenhaal’s direction and Buckley’s performance, but others suggest that the risks taken with the source material haven’t paid off.
‘Fans of Maggie Gyllenhaal will be disappointed; fans of Mary Shelley will be disappointed; fans of unhinged cinema will be morbidly intrigued,’ Empire magazine said.
Meanwhile IGN movies said: ‘Buckley and Bale offer full-throttle performances, but this gothic horror romance too often veers into the ridiculous and the obvious.’
However Film Threat was somewhat kinder, saying: ‘Still, the film is a delightfully insane romp that falls short of landing its message in mayhem. But what glorious mayhem it is.’
And The New Yorker said: ‘Insofar as Gyllenhaal’s movie offers a corrective, it’s a conceptual delight. But, ultimately, the movie has the form of mismatched pieces stitched together and brought to life more willfully than coherently.’
Metro’s own review was more mixed, calling it a ‘messy monster mash-up movie’, and adding: ‘This film also has a lot to say, leading to some lurches in storytelling alongside its already quite jarring style – but I am glad it exists in the world as part of a major studio’s 2026 cinematic output, confirming there’s still space for these kinds of big swings.’
Gyllenhaal’s reimagining of Mary Shelley’s premise brings the action forward to 1930s Chicago, with Buckley in dual roles as both Shelley (speaking from the afterlife) and Ida, a woman who dies in an accident.
When she is reanimated as a companion for Frank (Bale), the lonely monster created by Dr Frankenstein, the scene is set for the pair to head off on a Bonnie and Clyde-style crime spree, with detectives (Peter Sarsgaard and Penelope Cruz) on their tale as they leave a trail of chaos in their wake.
While the film might have underperformed at the box office, Jessie Buckley is still hot property, in the wake of her performance in Hamnet — which is heavily tipped to land her the best actress Oscar at the Academy Awards on Sunday night.
The Irish-born star has already won most of the major best actress awards – including the Golden Globe, Actor Award and the Bafta – for her performance as William Shakespeare’s wife Agnes in the period drama, based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel.
