‘Verity’ Is Tracking for a Solid Box Office Debut as Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson Take On ‘Digger’
Colleen Hoover adaptations have become a dependable draw at the multiplex. ‘It Ends With Us’ set the bar with a $50 million opening, while ‘Regretting You’ debuted at $13.6 million and ‘Reminders of Him’ at $17.8 million. Now the fourth Hoover book to reach theaters, ‘Verity‘, is preparing for its own turn.
The film also arrives at the end of an enormous year for its star. Anne Hathaway appeared in ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’, which earned $693 million, and in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’, which has grossed $1.72 billion. ‘Verity’ is her fifth film of 2026, following ‘Mother Mary’ and ‘The End of Oak Street’.
According to Global Box Office, pre-sales for ‘Verity’ are strong, and the film is tracking to debut with $19 million to $25 million domestically against a $40 million budget. It arrives in theaters on Friday, Oct. 2, and it stars Dakota Johnson alongside Hathaway.
Other projections land in a similar area. Box Office Theory has the film in the $20 million to $29 million range, while columnist Todd Thatcher argues that a start in the lower to mid 20s seems doable. An earlier Box Office Pro estimate, from about 2 weeks ago, had it at $30 million to $40 million, which suggests expectations have shifted somewhat lower since.
Gays and females are going to top the American box office this weekend as VERITY pre-sales are strong and tracking to debut with $19M–$25M on a $40M budget.
— Global Box Office (@GlobalBoxOffice) September 28, 2026
It stars Dakota Johnson (Materialists) and Anne Hathaway (Devil Wears Prada 2; The Odyssey). pic.twitter.com/mWH8KavObL
The film’s main competition is Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’, a Warner Bros. dark comedy that has drawn mixed critical reactions and has a similar opening in sight. Some analysts believe ‘Verity’ has the edge, since movies aimed at women audiences have generally over-performed in recent years.
There is also a fun subplot. Hathaway is set to team up with Cruise for ‘Days of Thunder 2’ in summer 2028, so a win for ‘Verity’ would send her into that project as a box office heavyweight.
The film follows Lowen Ashleigh, played by Johnson, a struggling writer hired to finish the book series of bestselling author Verity Crawford, played by Hathaway, who cannot continue after an accident. While living at the Crawford home, Lowen discovers what appears to be Verity’s chilling autobiographical notes. She then has to separate fiction from reality, and manipulation from attraction.
Josh Hartnett plays Verity’s husband, Jeremy, and the cast also includes Ismael Cruz Córdova, Brady Wagner, Asel Swango and Daniel Echevarria. The movie is rated R and runs 117 minutes.
Hey, it’s Verity. Only in theaters October 2. #VerityFilm pic.twitter.com/tIC5kHzfQW
— Amazon MGM Studios (@AmazonMGMStudio) September 22, 2026
Anyone expecting a swooning love story may be surprised. Johnson told Rotten Tomatoes that the romance in the film is the kind that is “not really healthy.” That fits the source material, a 2018 psychological thriller that was self-published, later acquired by Grand Central Publishing in 2021, and sold more than 1 million copies in 2023 alone.
Michael Showalter, who directed Hathaway in ‘The Idea of You’, helms the film from a screenplay by Nick Antosca and Colleen Hoover. Hoover also serves as a producer, along with Hathaway.
For a $40 million film, an opening in the low to mid $20 millions would be a healthy start, especially with international ticket sales still to come. SlashFilm has even predicted the film could become the sleeper hit of the fall season, pointing to its reasonable budget, its built-in readership and Hathaway’s momentum.
A strong opening would also show that the fall calendar is not the lull some expected. Both ‘Verity’ and ‘Digger’ are debuting after ‘Resident Evil’ broke franchise records with a $60 million opening, which suggests audiences are showing up.
The real answer arrives this weekend, when the receipts come in. If pre-sales are any guide, though, Hathaway, Johnson and Hartnett may be in for a very good Friday night.
Can Verity beat Tom Cruise’s Digger at the box office this weekend?
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