When Regretting You opened a little over four weeks ago, the film was expected to debut on the low end of tracking and contribute to October’s rather dismal box office run. The month was littered with fare that underperformed, and the result was October registering the lowest domestic turnout in 27 years, not counting the pandemic in 2020. The industry needed a bit of good news, and who would’ve thought it was going to come from the very film that was expected to be a blip?

Regretting You may have headed into its opening weekend with negative reviews and continued disdain for Colleen Hoover-adapted material, but it struck a chord with its target female demo and debuted well-above its tracking. In the weeks since its initial release, the film has seen incredible holds and has driven home the notion that the female audience is especially crucial for box office success.

Directed by Josh Boone from a screenplay by Susan McMartin, Regretting You is based on Hoover’s 2019 novel of the same name and follows the strained mother-daughter relationship between Morgan Grant (Allison Williams) and Clara Grant (McKenna Grace). The relationship is dealt a huge blow when a tragic accident takes the life of Clara’s father, Chris (Scott Eastwood), and Morgan’s younger sister, Jenny (Willa Fitzgerald). In the accident’s wake, a big secret comes to light when it’s revealed that Chris and Morgan’s younger sister was having an affair, and the family has to deal with the aftermath of that secret.

Also involved is Jonah Sullivan (Dave Franco), who was engaged to Jenny and now has growing feelings for Morgan, while Clara is navigating first love with a classmate named Miller Adams (Mason Thames), who is also in a relationship.

Regretting You was greeted with harsh reviews from critics, registering a 28 percent on Rotten Tomatoes with a simple consensus that reads, “Regrettable all around.” Some critics lambasted the film’s plot, while others viewed it as a Hallmark/Lifetime movie that was only given the big screen treatment because of the recent desire to adapt Hoover’s material. Despite her books being huge with that target demo, she has been consistently criticized for her unrealistic writing style and for what some believe to be a glorification of abusive relationships in some of her work. This was especially explored when her best-seller, It Ends With Us, was given the movie treatment last year.

Despite being known more for the current legal battle between star Blake Lively and director Justin Baldoni, the film’s mixed reviews pointed to those Hooever criticisms, but that didn’t stop the movie from being a box office hit. It Ends With Us opened to a staggering $50 million during its opening weekend and went on to gross $148.5 million domestically and $351 million worldwide on a $25 million budget. It paved the way for more Hoover adaptations to be greenlit, leading to Regretting You. However, even though It Ends With Us was successful, the power of the demo and Hoover was denied by box office analysts who believed Regretting You would be D.O.A.

Regretting You was tracking to open between $6-8 million, which would’ve been on the low end, despite a rather manageable $30 million budget. However, throughout its opening weekend, the movie proved to be a bigger contender than anticipated and ended up taking second place with $13.6 million. It was by no means an It Ends With Us situation, but for a film that many underestimated, debuting significantly above tracking was viewed as a huge win. Deadline pointed to Regretting You being solid female counterprogramming against titles such as The Black Phone 2, which the film beat for second place during that horror title’s second weekend, and Sony/Crunchyroll’s Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc, which took first place with over $18 million.

When speaking about The Running Man’s underperformance over the weekend, we pointed out that the film didn’t hit with the female audience and skewed more to older males. If there are successes within the female demo, it proves time and time again how viable this demographic is to box office triumph. When they believe the material is good to support, they’ll come out for it and make an event out of it. This can be seen with films like It Ends With Us, The Fifty Shades franchise, and Magic Mike, to name a few. Romantic comedies might be hit or miss at the box office lately, but that isn’t the only sub-genre that appeals to women.

Regretting You took advantage of a particularly slow Halloween weekend during its second outing and pulled in $7.8 million, representing a drop of just 42.9 percent. Any drop below 50 percent was to be viewed as a success, but the film was showing its staying power ahead of that second weekend. Regretting You had healthy grosses during the week, topping $1 million daily following its opening weekend with its first Monday ($1.4 million) and discount Tuesday ($1.8 million) being especially strong. It was clear that the film was speaking to the demo, which, given the generational nature of the plot, was able to appeal to young girls and adult women alike. The film served as a movie they could share, negative reviews be damned.

Just look at the adaptation of Delia Owens’ 2018 novel, Where the Crawdads Sing. The film was met with a rotten 35 percent on the aggregator site but proved to be a hit with the female audience during the summer of 2022, grossing $90.2 million domestically and $144.3 million worldwide on a $24 million budget. It drives home the notion that some movies just aren’t made for all of us, and even though we may not understand why they’re successful, the target audience does.

Over its four weeks of release, Regretting You has had steady holds that will guarantee its profitability. In weekend three, the film dropped a slim 14.9 percent to $6.6 million, and its most current weekend saw a drop of 44.1 percent to $3.7 million. A strong indication of its success is that it hasn’t rushed to shed screens, and exhibitors are keeping it around because it’s drawing business to their theaters. The movie opened in 3,393 screens and is down to just 2,709 screens.

The female demo will certainly find a new offering in Wicked: For Good this weekend, and Regretting You will likely see its biggest tumble, but much of its work has been done. The film has currently grossed $44.9 million domestically and $82.4 million worldwide. Box office analysts predict that the movie will gross $50 million+ domestically by the end of its run, especially with the Thanksgiving holiday next week providing one last bump, while a worldwide run of $90-100 million isn’t out of the question. Not bad for a movie that was expected to open at its lowest with a mere $6 million.

Hoover has more of her books being adapted into movies, with Reminders of Him opening on March 13, 2026, and Verity set to hit screens in October. There is no reason why those films won’t become hits that the industry may choose to underestimate, but targeting the female demo shouldn’t be restricted to just Hoover’s work. The female demographic has been known to flock to horror movies, with it being a good date night option, while action movies also provide appeal, should the marketing find an angle that interests them.

What is being seen now is that certain marketing strategies are too narrow in their scope and need to reach a broader audience to ensure more success during a film’s box office run. Why target one demo when targeting several can result in more tickets being sold? With Regretting You turning into a bit of a word-of-mouth hit with the demo, it proves just how underserved the female audience is, and that they’re looking for their stories to be told on the big screen. It’s time to stop acting surprised and begin understanding that the ladies want a reason to head to their local Cineplex as well.

Regretting You is now playing in theaters nationwide.

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