Sydney Sweeney’s boxing biopic Christy may have flopped at the box office, but survivors and advocates say it got one thing strikingly right: how to talk about domestic violence.
The 2025 film, which chronicles the life of pioneering boxer Christy Martin and her abusive relationship with manager Jim Martin, opened to just $1.3 million before suffering a historic 91.7 percent second-weekend drop – the steepest ever recorded.
Yet despite its commercial failure, it boasts a staggering 98% Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes, a B+ CinemaScore.
It has sparked serious awards buzz for Sweeney, who is already racking up honors including the Spotlight Award at SCAD Savannah, the Hamptons International Film Festival’s Achievement in Acting prize and an upcoming Virtuosos Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
And while ticket sales dwindled, the film’s promotional campaign struck a nerve for reasons that had little to do with Hollywood gloss.
Sweeney consistently centered Martin’s lived trauma rather than softening it for mass appeal, emphasizing that the abuse storyline was just as crucial as the boxing narrative itself.
Sydney Sweeney’s boxing biopic Christy may have flopped at the box office, but survivors and advocates say it got one thing strikingly right: how to talk about domestic violence
‘She’s an incredible role model so being able to bring her story to a wider audience and hopefully save lives through that has been the greatest gift that I could’ve ever been given,’ Sweeney said while discussing the film at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles.
Producer Kerry Kohansky-Roberts echoed that focus, stressing that the team viewed the film as a conversation starter rather than pure entertainment.
‘To come out of it, to be able to tell stories that are impactful… but to make a difference, to hopefully be an avenue for people to talk about it and feel open about their own situations and people they know,’ she explained.
Both women also made clear steps to protect Martin during filming.
The most graphic attack scene was shot before Martin ever arrived on set, with Sweeney explaining: ‘We wanted to protect her from that.’
When Martin eventually walked onto the set, the entire crew stood and applauded her – a moment Sweeney described as deeply emotional.
‘Seeing her stand there in front of all of them, I think the importance of the story we’re telling really hit everyone.’
At nearly every Q&A, Sweeney said survivors came forward to share personal stories.
The 2025 film, which chronicles the life of pioneering boxer Christy Martin and her abusive relationship with manager Jim Martin, opened to just $1.3 million before suffering a historic 91.7 percent second-weekend drop – the steepest ever recorded
Martin herself reportedly hoped the film would become something fathers show daughters as a warning about abusive men.
‘These are things and signs you have to look out for as you enter relationships,’ Kohansky-Roberts said. ‘To know how the manipulation starts. It’s such a gray area. It’s very important we talk about it. Christy is alive today and she’s incredible and she’s just as strong on the inside. We’re just here to celebrate her.’
‘It’s a very personal issue that’s important to me, and I hope that through Christy and her story, it can raise more awareness,’ Sweeney told Variety.
Sweeney further reinforced the message off-screen, selecting the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence as her chosen charity for Variety’s Power of Women event.
Additionally, she partnered with American Eagle to create The Sydney Jean, a limited-edition design featuring a butterfly motif symbolizing domestic violence awareness, with 100% of proceeds benefiting Crisis Text Line.
Yet despite its commercial failure, it boasts a staggering 98% Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes, a B+ CinemaScore; Martin and Sweeney seen last month
Even after Christy underperformed, Sweeney doubled down on its purpose rather than retreating from the conversation.
‘This film stands for survival, courage, and hope,’ she wrote on Instagram. ‘We don’t always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact.’
She concluded: ‘If Christy gave even one woman the courage to take her first step toward safety, then we will have succeeded.’
By comparison, Blake Lively’s promotional tour for It Ends With Us, also a story rooted in domestic violence, drew intense criticism for what many viewers perceived as a tone-deaf focus on aesthetics, fashion and lighthearted chatter.
Adapted from Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, the film follows Lily Bloom as she navigates an abusive relationship with neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid.
Yet early marketing emphasized florals, romance and Lively’s creative vision rather than the trauma at the heart of the story.
By comparison, Blake Lively’s promotional tour for It Ends With Us, also a story rooted in domestic violence, drew intense criticism for what many viewers perceived as a tone-deaf focus on aesthetics, fashion and lighthearted chatter; seen in August 2024
Early marketing emphasized florals, romance and Lively’s creative vision rather than the trauma at the heart of the story; seen with Justin Baldoni
The backlash intensified after Lively hosted a breezy promotional interview with co-stars Jenny Slate and Isabela Ferrer and author Hoover, during which the group laughed about zodiac signs, dream jobs and anxiety around horses – with no mention of domestic violence.
‘We didn’t talk about our movie at all. Thanks for joining us,’ Lively joked at the end of the segment.
Social media erupted, with viewers calling the approach ‘shallow,’ ‘tone deaf’ and ‘an insult to DV survivors,’ accusing the actress of promoting a film about abuse as if it were a rom-com.
In response, Lively later shared a statement acknowledging the theme, writing: ‘It Ends With Us is a story of the female experience. All the highest highs, and lowest lows.’
She also posted a violence-against-women PSA and statistics about intimate partner violence, alongside links to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, adding: ‘Everyone deserves relationships free from domestic violence.’
While Lively later emphasized that her character was a ‘survivor’ whose identity was not defined solely by harm, critics argued that the corrective messaging came too late.
Social media erupted, with viewers calling the approach ‘an insult to DV survivors,’ accusing the star of promoting a film about abuse as if it were a rom-com; seen last year with Brandon Sklenar
Dale Margolin Cecka, Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Family Violence Litigation Clinic at Albany Law School, pointed out the ‘stark contrast between the campaigns’ to The Daily Mail.
‘Both Lively and Sweeney are glamour girls, but the It Ends with Us campaign prioritized beauty and superficiality, whereas the Christy campaign focused on the hard, ugly things that Christy Martin endured. Christy’s promotion could have been framed as “beautiful actress transforms herself..” but instead, Sweeney consistently talked about telling Martin’s actual story,’ she explained.
Cecka noted, as an advocate, it was particularly ‘refreshing how consistent Sweeney was with this message.’
‘It is critical for people to see the reality of intimate partner violence. Intimate partner violence was completely misrepresented in It Ends with Us, both on and off screen. Domestic violence is not about pretty girls getting occasionally beaten up by men with tempers, which is the story that It Ends with Us told,’ she stressed. ‘It Ends with Us perpetuated the myth that victims can just “decide” one day to leave. That’s not how domestic violence works. Christy’s story is real; It Ends with Us is flowery fiction.’
Despite the backlash, It Ends with Us raked in $350 million worldwide against a $25 million budget and became one of 2024’s most profitable films; seen in 2024
Despite the backlash, It Ends with Us raked in $350 million worldwide against a $25 million budget and became one of 2024’s most profitable films.
‘The box office performances speak volumes about how far we still have to go in terms of accepting victims for who they actually are. As much as people give lip service to caring about domestic violence, society still wants victims to be pretty and demure,’ Cecka said.
In December 2024, months after It Ends with Us hit theaters, Lively filed a sexual harassment complaint against director Justin Baldoni. He has denied all claims against him.
The case is scheduled to go to trial in March 2026.
The contrast between the two campaigns has become a case study in how Hollywood handles sensitive subject matter.
Sweeney chose to spotlight discomfort, survivor voices and the raw realities of abuse, even as her film faltered financially.
Lively, despite promoting a larger studio release, faced accusations of diluting the seriousness of the issue in favor of marketable charm.
And for many survivors watching from the sidelines, the distinction was clear: one campaign felt like awareness, the other felt like branding.
