Zendaya’s newest movie has ended her eight-year streak of dominating the box office during opening weekend.
The Drama, starring the 29-year-old Euphoria star alongside Robert Pattinson, debuted at the third spot in the domestic chart over Easter weekend, marking the first Zendaya movie to not jump to the top spot upon release since her animated movie Smallfoot in 2018.
All six of Zendaya’s feature films released between Smallfoot’s premiere and The Drama — Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021), Dune: Part One (2021), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Dune: Part Two (2024) and Challengers (2024) — debuted at number one during their respective opening weekends.
Kristoffer Borgli’s dark comedy did well for an A24 movie and made out with $14.4 million, which surpasses the studio’s 2025 rom-com Materialists. However, it was not enough to beat out Ryan Gosling’s space epic Project Hail Mary, which landed in second place during its third weekend behind the opening for the record-breaking The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
The animated sequel recorded the biggest opening day of the year at the box office Friday with $48.3 million domestically and is set to become the highest-grossing Hollywood film of 2026 so far.
After Project Hail Mary brought in a domestic opening weekend of $80.5 million last month, making the biggest of the year at that point, the movie was surpassed when the Super Mario Galaxy Movie soared to a massive $130.9 million in the three-day holiday weekend.
The first Mario Bros. Movie hit theaters over the same Easter weekend in 2023 and boasted a three-day weekend win of $147 million, one of the best showing of all time for a holiday.
Although The Drama did not catch up to its competitors in ticket sales, the dark comedy has become a popular topic of discourse surrounding its release due to a controversial plot twist that saw it condemned by critics before it even hit theaters.
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The movie, which is produced by Hereditary’s Ari Aster, stars Zendaya and Pattinson as an engaged couple who question their relationship after Zendaya’s character Emma reveals a dark secret. The film also stars Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie, Hailey Benton Gates and Zoë Winters.
Zendaya will have a chance to restart her hot streak with her next film appearances on the docket — two of which also coincidentally star Pattinson.
Her next movie to hit theaters will be Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in July before Spider-Man: Brand New Day releases two weeks later. Then in December, she’ll join Pattinson and Timothée Chalamet in Dune: Part Three.
