Daniel Day-Lewis' Big Return To Acting Bombed At The Box Office

Daniel Day-Lewis is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. From "The Crucible" to "There Will Be Blood" and everything in between, he's been a key part of some incredible movies over the years. That's why it felt like a big deal when it was revealed that the actor was coming out of retirement for "Anemone," the feature directorial debut of his son, Ronan Day-Lewis. Unfortunately, that grand return was met with a very muted debut at the box office.

Released this past weekend by Focus Features, "Anemone" made just $681,655 on 865 screens for a terrible $788 per-screen average in its domestic debut. It failed — by a considerable margin — to crack the top 10. Even the re-release of "Casper" ($802,365) performed better, for some sobering context. Granted, this movie was never going to be a blockbuster, but the return of a three-time Oscar winner, one would think/hope would be a bigger deal, even for the arthouse audience. Alas, that's not the way things shook out.

The film centers on Jem Stoker (Sean Bean), who visits his estranged hermit brother, Ray (Day-Lewis), attempting to convince him to come home. In his review for /Film, Jeremy Mathai said "Anemone" is a "moody chamber piece" with "an acting showcase for the ages" from Day-Lewis. Even so, that great performance wasn't enough to elevate the total of the movie's parts.

"Anemone" currently holds a 57% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes to go with a 57% audience rating. It feels, at times, nearly impossible to get people out to theaters to see anything original these days. On the rare occasion when something does break through, it's generally because the response is overwhelmingly positive. That wasn't the case here.

For what it's worth, this wasn't the only movie that suffered over the weekend. A24's much-buzzed-about "The Smashing Machine," starring Dwayne Johnson, flopped with just $6 million in its debut. Much of that had to do with the fact that Taylor Swift's "The Official Release Party of a Showgirl" overshadowed everything else with a $33 million opening. Even so, even The Rock couldn't entice audiences to show up for a movie aimed at adults.

It's all part of the same problem, which is that these sorts of movies are increasingly difficult to impossible to sell to broad audiences in the pandemic era. Focus Features has far more misses than hits in 2025, with "Nosferatu" ($181 million worldwide), which split its ticket sales between the end of last year and the beginning of this year, ranking as the studio's biggest hit by far. Results like "Honey Don't!," which opened to a lousy $3 million and made just $7.2 million worldwide, are more common.

That's the sad reality that Hollywood is increasingly having to contend with. Not everything can be a big event like "Sinners" or "F1." What happens to movies that can't earn that must-see label, justifying the big screen experience? It's a question the industry at large is going to have to find answers for sooner rather than later. If a grim fate such as this were less common, it might be easier to shrug off. Sadly, it's the norm these days. Most cinephiles would probably agree that Day-Lewis deserved better with his first movie since 2017's "Phantom Thread."

Even so, blaming audiences is rarely a good way to solve a problem. I don't personally have any answers for the brass in charge of the major studios; I only hope that sooner rather than later, fortunes begin to turn for movies that, in years past, would have had a good enough hook to at least put up a semi-respectable opening weekend number.

"Anemone" is in theaters now.