Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried in Paul Feig's The Housemaid.' Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Heading into the year-end holiday season, very few in Hollywood were focused on director Paul Feig's The Housemaid, save for the social backlash engulfing star Sydney Sweeney over her American Eagle jeans ad. The in-demand young actress stars opposite Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar in the adaptation of Freida McFadden's best-selling book of the same name. They are now. And if they aren't, they will be soon. Over the Jan. 23-25 weekend, The Housemaid passed up Bridesmaids ($289.6 million) to become the top-grossing film of Feig's career with a stunning $294.9 million in global ticket sales, not adjusted for inflation. Related Stories Movies Box Office: Chris Pratt's 'Mercy' Topples 'Avatar 3' With $11.2M But Can't Outrun Brutal Winter Storm Movies USC Scripter Awards: 'One Battle After Another' and 'Death by Lightning' Take Top Honors It's also the top showing of Sweeney's career in a leading role, easily trumping the breakout romancer Anyone But You ($208 million). And it has earned far more than many high-profile 2025 releases such as One Battle After Another, a frontrunner for the Oscar. It also comes as the box office continues to struggle even though the pandemic is in the rearview mirror. Many pundits believe midrange films, and especially those targeting females, are better suited for streaming. Feig vehemently disputes that. The R-rated psychological thriller, costing a net $45 million to make, is a major victory for Feig in particular. Some 15 years ago - when R-rated comedies were all the rage - he pushed the boundaries of the genre when making Bridesmaids, an all-female property (sorry, Seth Rogen and pack). The Universal film ranked No. 12 on the year's list of top-grossing films. It's also ahead of the 2024 book-to-movie sensation It Ends With Us, which grossed $250 million. Feig became the toast of the town. He also bonded with Bridesmaids star Melissa McCarthy, and more hit movies followed, including The Heat (2013) and Spy! (2015). Still, there was a fight every time. "I don't how many times in my career I've had to prove to Hollywood that women will show up at movie theaters, but they still do," said Feig. "It happened with Bridesmaids, it happened with Spy, it happened with The Heat and Simple Favor to a lesser degree, since it didn't do as well as I wanted to. But it still is considered a success because the budget was so small. It's just what I do. I do it over and over and over again. The town always seemed so amazed when women show up. So these movies, I don't know what it's going to take for people to just get it that this is a giant audience out there that just needs to be served." Feig continued, "But they need to be served something good. You can't just serve them shit. And I think that's what happened for so long, a certain kind of romance or rom-coms. Some were great and some weren't. And then I think the quality just started dropping because I don't know, people were just doing, oh, women will just show up for this. And it's like, well, no, women are as discerning as anybody else, so you just got to give them great stuff." Then came the reboot of Ghostbusters with a twist - the ensemble cast would be all-female. The Sony film was deemed a major disappointment even though it too earned north of $229 million globally, considering it had a higher budget and marketing costs. Feig wasn't exactly thrown into director's jail, but he has never worked for a major studio again. Nor was he willing to give up making females pics. A Simple Favor went to Lionsgate, while the recent sequel, A Simple Favor 2, went straight to streaming via Amazon's Prime (that decision was largely the result of the pandemic). Now comes along The Housemaid, which has two built-in sequels, since the books are a trilogy. Insiders say while Lionsgate has yet to seal a deal for Sweeney to return, she will be in The Housemaid's Secret. Seyfried's character isn't in the second book, but she and the filmmakers have indicated her character could make an appearance. "The female audience has been and will continue to be a tremendous opportunity if you make the film at the right price with the right partners. It can be both incredibly rewarding creatively and financially," said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chairman Adam Fogelson, who has a long history of giving the greenlight to female-led pics. He was at Universal when Feig made Bridesmaids, and also Pitch Perfect and Fifty Shades of Grey. And at STX, he backed Bad Moms and Hustlers. Feig's leading ladies heap praise on the director. Seyfried has said in various interviews she felt "completely liberated" by the filmmaker, who allowed her to take ris