Colleen Hoover is once again proving her box office talent.
Universal’s romantic drama Reminders of Him is the author’s latest bestseller to hit screens, grossing $18.2 million from 3,402 theaters in North America in its first release. These ticket sales have significantly exceeded pre-release expectations of $10 million to $12 million. The film earned $10 million from 56 overseas territories and a worldwide cume of $28.2 million, a solid start against a $25 million budget.
Hoover co-wrote the script for “Reminder of Him,” about a single mother returning home after serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake. Audience reviews were mixed, with CinemaScore’s exit poll giving the film a “B” rating.
This extends Hoover’s winning streak to 2024’s “It Ends With Us” and 2025’s “Regretting You,” and highlights the demand for female-focused stories. (Eighty percent of Reminders of Him’s opening weekend audience was women.) Her next film, Verity, starring Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway, is scheduled for release in October on Amazon MGM.
“Hollywood isn’t producing enough romantic dramas for adults,” said Jeff Bock, an analyst at Exhibitor Relations. “The audience is there, but the content isn’t. Colleen Huber’s adaptation fills that space.”
“Reminders of Him” opened in second place behind Disney and Pixar’s animated adventure “Hoppers,” and remained in the top spot in its second week with $28.5 million. This was solid (down just 36%) from its opening price of $45 million, with domestic revenue increasing to $86 million. The children’s film grossed $77.9 million overseas, bringing its worldwide total to $164.7 million. “Hoppers” is a major blow for Pixar, which has scored points with sequels such as “Inside Head 2,” but hasn’t had an original hit since 2017’s “Coco.” Although the film needs to continue playing on big screens to justify its $150 million price tag (theater owners keep about 50% of ticket sales), “The Hoppers” appears to be a steady box office success.
Meanwhile, director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s R-rated monster mash The Bride! His second performance was flat at $2.1 million, dropping him to sixth place. Due to poor reviews and horribly poor audience scores, ticket sales dropped 70% from its disastrous $7 million debut. The film has grossed $11.3 million in North America and $21 million worldwide to date. The film is shaping up to be an unmitigated financial disaster for Warner Bros., which spent $90 million making the film and $65 million promoting it.
In third place was A24’s low-budget paranormal horror film “Undertone,” which exceeded expectations by grossing $9.3 million from its opening weekend of $2,570. It’s an incredible start for the R-rated film, which was acquired by A24 for about $3 million to $4 million. Written and directed by Ian Tuason in his directorial debut, “Undertones” tells the story of a podcast host who discovers horrifying recordings when he moves into the house to care for his dying mother. The film received a “C” rating in the CinemaScore exit poll, which is typical of the genre, which leaves moviegoers deeply uneasy.
“This is original horror filmmaking that makes the genre interesting and unpredictable,” says David A. Gross, publisher of the box office newsletter Franchiseli. “This film succeeds because of its storytelling talent and fresh faces.”
Another scary movie, Paramount’s slasher sequel “Scream 7,” added $8.3 million in 3,243 theaters in its third weekend of release. Despite mixed reviews, the film grossed a whopping $107 million domestically and $176.9 million worldwide. Scream 7 is officially the highest-grossing movie in the long-running series, surpassing the lifetime totals of the 1996 original Scream ($173 million) and 1997 sequel Scream 2 ($172 million), not adjusting for inflation.
While overall attendance this weekend is significantly higher than the same period in 2025 (up 70% year over year, according to ComScore), ticket sales are still about 20% below the pre-pandemic average. Movie viewing is expected to accelerate significantly when Amazon MGM’s space adventure “Project Hail Mary,” starring Ryan Gosling, is released on March 20th. After that, Universal’s “Super Mario Galaxy Movie” on April 1 should start to become a real box office hit.
“We are on the verge of an impressive debut for Project Hail Mary,” predicts Paul Dergarabedian, Head of Marketplace Trends at Comscore. “And we’re looking forward to April when the market will pick up again.”
