‘Verity’ CinemaScore Is Finally In, and It Says a Lot About Colleen Hoover’s Audience

Colleen Hoover adaptations tend to split critics and moviegoers, and that pattern has become one of the more fascinating subplots of recent box office. ‘Verity‘ is the fourth Hoover adaptation to reach theaters. ‘It Ends With Us’ already proved that critics have little influence over this audience, and every title since has had to prove it again.

This time the pitch is a psychological thriller with an all-star cast. Michael Showalter directs, and Dakota Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer who moves to the estate of acclaimed author Verity Crawford, played by Anne Hathaway, to ghostwrite for her. Josh Hartnett also stars in the R-rated film, which was produced for $40 million.

Now the audience has weighed in. CinemaScore announced on X on Oct. 3 that the grade is in, and ‘Verity’ earned a C+. The announcement arrived after opening night, as the film was already pulling in the biggest weekend of any wide release.

#TheGrade is in and it's a C+ for #Verity.https://t.co/h6K6WjnUlV pic.twitter.com/upSg27Zp34

— CinemaScore (@CinemaScore) October 3, 2026

The numbers explain why the grade is getting attention. ‘Verity’ earned $4.5 million in previews and then a $14.5 million Friday, which includes those previews, according to Deadline. That puts it on track for a $32 million start from 3,510 theaters, if not more, and well ahead of Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger,’ which was eyeing about $10 million.

It is a notable result for a film critics did not embrace. ‘Verity’ currently holds a 41% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 88 reviews, with a 45 on Metacritic. It is the only one of Hathaway’s five 2026 releases to be rated “rotten.”

Many reviewers singled out Hathaway as the movie’s brightest spot, and ScreenRant went so far as to call it the best Hoover adaptation yet. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter were far less kind, and both panned it as a dud. The result is a divided response, much like the books that inspired it.

Hoover’s earlier films offer useful comparisons. ‘It Ends With Us’ opened to $50 million, while ‘Reminders of Him’ opened to $17.9 million and ‘Regretting You’ to $13.6 million. A $32 million start would put ‘Verity’ second among the four, behind only the biggest of them all.

It is also a strong result for the people behind it. Hathaway’s third No. 1 opening of the year follows ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ and ‘The Odyssey.’ The win is also a welcome one for Amazon MGM, which is looking to rebound after this summer’s ‘Masters of the Universe’ flopped with $113 million globally against a $200 million budget.

Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett star in an all-new trailer for #Verity.

In theaters October 2. pic.twitter.com/niq02J5nO5

— Rotten Tomatoes 🍅 (@RottenTomatoes) August 11, 2026

The studio has another advantage. Its low budget relative to its opening makes ‘Verity’ one of the more profitable fall releases if Friday’s numbers hold, and the film has reportedly benefited from strong word of mouth among book clubs and friend groups. Strong walk-up sales helped it on Friday as well.

What happens next is the real test. A C+ from opening-night audiences suggests the weekend may be front-loaded, and the coming weeks will show whether word of mouth can carry a thriller that critics did not love. For now, though, ‘Verity’ has the box office crown.

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