Anne Hathaway's New Horror-Thriller Gets Massive Streaming Redemption After Making 15% Of Its Budget

Published Oct 27, 2026, 4:46 PM EDT Grant Hermanns is a TV News Editor, Interview Host and Reviewer for ScreenRant, having joined the team in early 2021. He got his start in the industry with Moviepilot, followed by working at ComingSoon.net. When not indulging in his love of film/TV, Grant is making his way through his gaming backlog and exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons with friends. Anne Hathaway's banner year continues as a horror-thriller is dominating streaming. After spending a few years in independent and streaming fare, the Oscar winner has enjoyed one of her biggest string of mainstream releases yet in 2026. From The Devil Wears Prada 2 grossing over double its original film's worldwide haul with $639 million at the box office to being part of Christopher Nolan's record-smashing The Odyssey, Hathaway has reaffirmed her A-list status on the big screen. One film, though, didn't see the same level of success on its original release, but is coming back in a big way. Written, directed and produced by David Lowery, Hathaway led Mother Mary as the eponymous pop star whose efforts to mount a comeback tour following a major stage accident are hindered as she reunites with her former lover and creative partner Sam Anselm, a fashion designer, in order to design her a new dress. While confronting old wounds, the pair also find themselves dealing with something far more sinister lingering under the surface. Alongside Hathaway, the horror-thriller's ensemble cast included Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, Sian Clifford, FKA Twigs, Jessica Brown Findley and Alba Baptista, among others. Despite praise for Hathaway's performance and Lowery's visual style, Mother Mary still left critics and audiences polarized, while also bombing at the box office, making just 15% of its budget with $3 million grossed against its $20 million production budget. Hathaway's Mother Mary Is Getting Its Spotlight On HBO Max Now, some six months after the film failed in theaters, Mother Mary is enjoying a massive redemption on streaming. Per FlixPatrol, Hathaway's horror-thriller currently sits in the No. 1 spot on HBO Max's global Top 10 chart, rating above new addition Evil Dead Burn, which held the top spot in the US for some time, as well as Joe Dante's horror-comedy classic Gremlins at No. 3, the Johnny Depp-led adaptation of Stephen King's Secret Window at No. 4 and Steven Soderbergh's medical thriller Contagion at No. 5. Interestingly, with it now holding the No. 1 spot in the platform's global Top 10, Hathaway's Mother Mary is officially enjoying its highest position yet. Previously, the film enjoyed a modicum of success in the United States with its late August premiere on the now-Skydance-owned streamer, though could never break above the No. 2 spot, gradually falling after a week before leaving the Top 10 entirely after a week and a half. The Horror-Thriller Couldn't Match Hathaway's Other 2026 Breakout Hits Choose the movie with the higher Rotten Tomatoes score. With it being the first of her multiple releases to come this year, as well as her first true foray into the world of horror, there was a lot of anticipation for Mother Mary's release. Unfortunately for Hathaway, Lowery and A24, the film was not only given a smaller theatrical release, with a maximum of 1,103 theaters carrying it, but also had to contend with both The Super Mario Galaxy Movie just prior to it and Michael just after it, both of which hit the $1 billion mark in their runs, and Project Hail Mary, which surged to stay near the top of the box office after a full month. Despite getting her year off to an underwhelming start, Hathaway's 2026 largely turned around for the better after Mother Mary. As previously noted, both The Devil Wears Prada 2 and The Odyssey became runaway successes at the box office, while her most recent release, the adaptation of Colleen Hoover's Verity, grossed four times its production budget while in theaters ahead of its new digital release. Given Mother Mary has already found a fair amount of success on streaming both in the US and globally, it certainly looks to be on track to become a cult classic for the Oscar winner. With a few days still remaining until Halloween kicks off, it will also be interesting to see if the film can surpass the hefty competition of Evil Dead Burn and Backrooms to start climbing back up HBO Max's domestic charts. Release Date April 17, 2026 Runtime 112 minutes Director David Lowery Cast Global pop icon Mother Mary has retreated from the spotlight, but a major comeback performance reunites her with estranged best friend and former costume designer Sam Anselm. The uneasy reunion forces them to confront old wounds, teasing out the complicated bond that once defined their careers. Writers David Lowery Producers David Lowery, James M. Johnston, Jeanie Igoe, Jonas Katzenstein, Jonathan Saubach, Maximilian Leo, Toby Halbrooks Main Genre Drama Executive Producer(s) Andrea Scarso, Carlotta Löffelholz, Danny Cohen, Ian M. Stratford, Josh Allan, Len Blavatnik, Michael Bloom, Philipp Klausing, Ryan Heller, Rusta Mizani, Simon B. Stein, Timo Argillander