New Rami Malek Action Movie Hits Major Box Office Milestone During Opening Weekend, But Falls Far Short Of Its Budget

The new Rami Malek action movie has had a solid debut hampered by its big budget. Malek is a decorated actor, having won an Oscar for his performance as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which also won him a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. Additionally, he has won a Primetime Emmy award for his lead role in the USA Network thriller series Mr. Robot, which ran for four seasons and 45 total episodes between 2015 and 2019.

In addition to receiving critical acclaim, many Rami Malek movies have been box office hits. One of his highest-grossing тιтles is Bohemian Rhapsody, which made $879 million worldwide and was only recently surpᴀssed by 2023’s Oppenheimer ($976.2 million), in which Malek plays a small supporting role. Other theatrical hits featuring Malek include No Time to Die ($758.9 million), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 ($829.7 million), and Night at the Museum ($579.4 million). However, despite hitting a major milestone, his new action movie may not join their number.

The Amateur Has Hit An Important Global Milestone

It Debuted During A Busy Weekend

The Amateur has pᴀssed a major global box office milestone. The new action movie stars Rami Malek as Charlie Heller, a CIA cryptographer who uses his skill with technology to exact revenge on the people responsible for the death of his wife. The star-studded ensemble cast of the movie also includes Rachel Brosnahan, Caitríona Balfe, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Laurence Fishburne. Critics have been mixed to positive, earning it a just-barely Fresh 61% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 127 ratings, including a 7 out of 10 from ScreenRant‘s own Tatiana Hullender. Read an excerpt from her review of The Amateur below:

No one should ever doubt [Rami Malek’s] talent, but I still didn’t imagine he would be able to take such a boilerplate character and add moments of depth and clarity with only a subtle change in expression. Of course, credit is also due to [director James Hawes] — whose work on Slow Horses season 1 explains why certain moments of The Amateur feel like prestige television.

Per ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, as of Sunday morning, The Amateur is projected to close out its opening weekend with a 3-day total of $32.2 million. This comes from a $15 million domestic total (which saw it debut at No. 3 in North America behind The King of Kings and A Minecraft Movie, but ahead of fellow new releases Warfare and Drop) and $17.2 million from international markets. While this already makes it one of just 19 2025 movies to have crossed the $30 million milestone globally so far, this total still pales in comparison to its $60 million budget.

What This Means For The Amateur

It Might Not Make Its Money Back

Not only does this milestone equal half of the movie’s budget, it falls even more short of its break-even point. Movies typically need to earn back two and a half times their budgets, so it is likely that the release of The Amateur will need to climb to a grand total of $150 million in order to turn a profit. This will probably not be possible unless it has an unusually strong audience hold, though its 88% Rotten Tomatoes audience score and B+ CinemaScore mean that it could potentially build enough word of mouth to become a sleeper hit.

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Source: ᴅᴇᴀᴅline