Film and entertainment critics around the world are asking a simple, yet salient, question following the release of Christy, a women’s boxing biopic starring Sydney Sweeney: Why does the industry keep making boxing biopics?
The catalyst behind this inquiry is no mystery. Christy bombed at the box office upon debuting, taking in just $1.3 million in its opening weekend, despite being released across 2,000 theaters. Pretty much every review and critique of the movie nods to its financial struggles. None of them express surprise at the development.
This in itself might come as surprising. After all, interest in boxing betting continues to climb. Pay-per-view events still generate tons of revenue. Marquee fights still sell out massive arenas in markets.
And yet, in spite of all that, there just doesn’t seem to be a demand for movies that contextualize the life and times of the most important figureheads. Even a story such as the one told in Christy that follows a female protagonist who is easy to root for, and who faced genuinely gut-wrenching and repressive obstacles doesn’t seem to resonate.
Hence, the question: Why?
No, Christy Hasn’t Struggled At The Box Office Simply Because It Follows a Women in Boxing
Reflexive attempts at justifying the box-office struggles of Christy are often rooted in “The demand for women’s boxing isn’t the same compared to men’s boxing.” This just isn’t true.
As Lisa Respers France writes for CNN, while films depicting real-life female boxers have struggled to succeed, the same holds accurate for those portraying male boxers:
“What about boxing movies about men? “Hands of Stone,” the Robert De Niro film about Roberto Durán, opened widely in 2016 and seems to have tracked very similarly to “Christy,” with a weak opening weekend and a slow follow. The Miles Teller biopic of Vinny Pazienza, “Bleed for This,” similarly failed to fill theaters. “Phantom Punch,” the 2009 Sonny Liston biopic starring Ving Rhames, performed so poorly it has been almost erased from the permanent record. It might feel like audiences, despite their love of “Raging Bull” and the “Rocky” franchise, just don’t love biographical boxing movies about real people that much.”
Resper does go on to note that breakthrough biopics come along every once in a while. For the most part, though, she concludes that the most successful “women’s boxing films aren’t biopics.” Instead, they include movies like 2004’s Million Dollar Baby, starring Hilary Swank, and Michelle Rodriguez’s Girlfight.
However, even many of the boxing movies featuring fictional characters, both men and women, generally have not performed as well as creators and, of course, those in the C-Suite have hoped.
These Movies Might Say More About The Overall State Of Boxing As A Sport
Though we can point to data that shows interest in boxing—and the entertainment activities around it—is on the ascent, the overall lack of a central governing body has contributed to it lagging behind other major North American sports, such as the NFL, NBA and MLB. Plenty of factors are driving this trend. One, however, stands out above all else: The increased involvement of Saudi Arabia.
Make no mistake, Saudi Arabia has worked its way into a number of different sports. They clearly view the market at large as an investment opportunity. But the stakes in boxing are different from having minority ownership shares in a football or basketball team. They are directly impacting accessibility to the average fan.
Consider what Brian Campbell of CBS Sports writes on the matter:
“These potential moves, combined, appear to be a direct threat upon the American boxing market, one that would only further the gap between an increasingly niche sport and a casual fan base that blockbuster pay-per-view cards depend upon being able to pull in revenue…Still, many of boxing’s biggest matchups over the past 18 months were shifted to Saudi Arabia (airing on Saturday afternoons in the U.S., often competing with college football), which removed much of the grassroots buzz that comes with the marketing of major fights stateside. Add to this the fact that Alvarez, who regularly packs arenas in Las Vegas full of Mexican and Mexican-American fans — long the consumer backbone of American boxing, will now be fighting almost exclusively in smaller arenas on Saudi Arabian soil.”
To be sure, this is a more recent obstacle facing the sport. But when it was already trailing more central sports entities, particularly when it comes to team-driven events, it can be a blow to overall interest.
Remember, many of these boxing movies, regardless of the protagonist’s gender, are telling the story of someone the general population knows little about. These films need the overall pull of the sport to reel in not just diehards, but the most casual fans possible.
Right now, it’s clear boxing does not have that kind of magnetism. Christy isn’t the cause. No, it’s an extension of the trend. And if marquee boxing fights become even harder to watch or attend, it’s tough to see this changing anytime soon.
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