Verity Reviews, Rotten Tomatoes Score, Box Office Forecast
Verity opens Friday in about 3,510 theaters with a Rotten Tomatoes score in the mid-40s and an opening-weekend forecast that ranges from $19 million to $40 million, depending on who is counting. Variety puts the Colleen Hoover adaptation at $30 million to $35 million, which would be Anne Hathaway's third No. 1 opening of 2026 after The Devil Wears Prada 2 and The Odyssey.
What the reviews say
Rotten Tomatoes' own editorial page listed 43% in the first tallies. Other outlets reported 45% to 46% as more reviews came in, with Metacritic at 44 to 45. The tallies were still moving Thursday.
The split runs along one line: Hathaway is praised, the film is not. Variety's Guy Lodge called it a "flat-footed dud," and said its A-list stars look embarrassed, confused or indifferent. Mashable's Kristy Puchko found it weird, sexy and funny in turns, but wrote that it is held back by mainstream prudishness. Slashfilm's Nina Starner gave it 2 out of 10 while crediting Hathaway as the reason parts of it work. On the other side, Screen Rant's Liz Declan gave it 8 out of 10 and called it potentially the best Hoover adaptation yet. IndieWire's David Ehlich was among the critics who scored it fresh.
Several reviews make the same complaint. The film is sold as an erotic thriller, and critics say it is neither sexy nor tense enough. The Hollywood Reporter's Richard Lawson wrote that Dakota Johnson, who plays ghostwriter Lowen Ashleigh opposite Hathaway's author Verity Crawford, seems checked out as the film goes on. Michael Showalter directs, and Josh Hartnett co-stars.
The numbers that matter more
Critics have had limited effect on this audience. It Ends With Us opened to $50 million in 2024, still the biggest debut for a Hoover adaptation. Verity cost $40 million to produce, and Variety says a debut near $40 million would justify the price. Forecasts differ: Amazon MGM is projecting $27 million to $30 million, Box Office Theory $24 million to $34 million, Box Office Pro $30 million to $40 million, and Global Box Office $19 million to $25 million.
A $30 million-plus weekend would clear the openings of 2025's Regretting You and 2026's Reminders of Him, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It would also give Amazon MGM a win after Masters of the Universe, which grossed $113 million worldwide against a $200 million budget.
The competition is thin. Tom Cruise's Digger, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, is forecast to open at $12 million to $15 million from 3,300 screens and has a 51% Tomatometer score from 134 reviews.
Hathaway on the carpet
Hathaway has had a heavy year: The Devil Wears Prada 2 has grossed about $693 million worldwide and The Odyssey about $1.75 billion, per Wikipedia's 2026 box-office table. She arrived at the Verity premiere in New York on Tuesday, Sept. 29, in a black beaded Atelier Prabal Gurung dress, with Johnson and Hartnett. She announced her third pregnancy on Instagram on June 19. She and husband Adam Shulman have two sons, Jonathan, 10, and Jack, 6.
When commenters said her bump looked fake at an earlier premiere, she posted a reply captioned "Fake hair, real bump." Reports have not given a due date, and her representatives have not issued one.
Preview screenings run Thursday night. By Sunday, the box-office actuals will show whether Hoover's readers outvote the critics.
