Sydney Sweeney's HBO Max Takeover Continues As R-Rated $220M Movie Hits Streaming

Published Oct 20, 2026, 12:58 PM EDT James Hunt is a writer, editor, and content strategist based in Newcastle, UK. A journalism graduate with an NCTJ qualification, he has well over a decade of experience in online entertainment media. He's had thousands of articles published, received millions of views, and led coverage on everything from the latest blockbuster movies to the Oscars to bingeworthy and prestige TV shows. Sydney Sweeney has spent much of the decade becoming one of the biggest, most recognizable stars on screens big and small, and one of her best movies is now hitting HBO Max. Although Sweeney's TV shows have taken some of the focus, with her role as Cassie Howard in Euphoria in particular helping launch her to stardom and gaining both critical acclaim and causing controversy, she has made her mark with movies, too. After an early appearance in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood in 2019, she's become a genuine movie star. What's more, Sweeney's movie roles have often felt like something of a throwback: R-Rated, often erotic thrillers, the kinds of movies that were made constantly in the 1980s and 1990s but that a franchise and IP-obsessed Hollywood has often turned away from. The same is true for another genre she's had a major hit in: the rom-com, thanks to Anyone But You. And that's now joined her successful thriller on HBO Max. Sydney Sweeney Has Been Dominating HBO Max Image credit: Daniel McFadden / © Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection Sweeney is, of course, a familiar face on HBO Max, but largely thanks to TV, in particular all three seasons of Euphoria. She also shone in the first season of HBO's The White Lotus, and, before she had truly broken out, in the incredible Amy Adams-led series Sharp Objects. However, her most recent hit on the platform has been thanks to one of her biggest movies. Having dropped on October 9, 2026, The Housemaid has been in HBO Max's top 10 in the United States ever since. It immediately shot to #1, and while it was recently knocked off the top spot by The Death of Robin Hood, it's still going strong in second place. That not only reaffirms Sweeney as a major draw on streaming, but also just how much of a hit The Housemaid was. An adaptation of Freida McFadden's novel, the thriller follows Millie (Sweeney), who becomes a live-in maid for a family with some very dark secrets. It's a fun thriller that earned its R rating and became a big box office hit, earning $400 million on a budget of just $35m, and a sequel is already confirmed for 2027. However, as successful as it was, it's no longer Sweeney's best movie on HBO Max. Anyone But You Is Now On HBO Max - And It's One Of Sweeney's Best Movies Hitting the platform on October 20 is Anyone But You, the rom-com from Will Gluck which stars Sydney Sweeney alongside Glen Powell, and a plot that takes some inspiration from Much Ado About Nothing. The pair have a brief romance that quickly goes cold, only to reunite at a wedding, where they end up pretending to be a couple. The film is an excellent kind of throwback rom-com, and while the genre has had success on streaming in the last decade - including Netflix's Set It Up, which also starred Powell - this was a real return to box office form. Made on a budget of $25m, it went on to be a sleeper hit in late 2023 and into early 2024, going on to pull in $220m worldwide. Choose the movie with the higher Rotten Tomatoes score. That success was well deserved, because it really is a gem of a romantic comedy and contains a lot of what you'd want from the genre: a strong cast, a fun soundtrack, a great setting, and, most of all, two main characters you want to be together. Sweeney and Powell's chemistry is the biggest reason this movie works, and it's a funny, sweet, silly, and sexy movie that may not be perfect, but is going to play very well on HBO Max. If there were any justice, or if this were the 1990s, then we'd already have the duo in another rom-com, but since we don't, watching, or re-watching, Anyone But You will have to do.