Adrien Brody’s Controversial Oscar-Nominated Movie Crosses Major Box Office Milestone

The controversial Best Picture nominee The Brutalist has passed a major box office milestone. The movie stars Adrien Brody as architect László Tóth, a Holocaust survivor who emigrates to the United States to start a new life. The Brutalist controversy stems from the fact that the faux Hungarian accents of Brody and his co-star Felicity Jones were augmented by AI technology. AI, which is controversial both because of its negative environmental impact and because it replaces human artists, was also used to create architectural drawings for the movie.

Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, The Brutalist is projected to close out its seventh weekend at the domestic box office with a 3-day haul of $1.6 million landing it at No. 10 on the chart. This brings its cumulative domestic total to $11.8 million, seeing the movie cross the $11 million milestone shortly after crossing the $10 million earlier in the week. So far, it is the 13th movie to pass that milestone in North America in 2025.

The only other 2024 releases to pass that milestone in 2025 have been Mufasa: The Lion King, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Moana 2, Wicked, Nosferatu, A Complete Unknown, and Babygirl, a roster that is composed largely of blockbuster releases.

What This Means For The Brutalist

It Is Performing Well Among Best Picture Nominees

This domestic milestone comes as the Brutalist release continues to expand into more and more theaters during awards season, during which Brody, director Brady Corbet, and the movie itself have already won multiple accolades. This may be helping to boost its prospects, as Corbet’s previous star-led drama, the Natalie Portman movie Vox Lux, only ever earned $727,119 at the domestic box office. However, it remains one of the lowest-grossing movies to earn a 2025 Best Picture nomination. Below, see a breakdown of the domestic box office earnings of every Best Picture nominee so far:

Title	Domestic Box Office
Wicked	$469.9 million
Dune: Part Two	$282.1 million
A Complete Unknown	$66.7 million
Conclave	$31.9 million
The Substance	$17.1 million
Anora	$15.1 million
The Brutalist	$11.8 million
Nickel Boys	$1.7 million
I’m Still Here	$515,364
Emilia Pérez	N/A

However, it is performing extraordinarily well at the level of a limited release with a still-expanding rollout. When it premiered, it only played in four theaters, and the number has slowly risen since then, from four to seven to eight to 68 to 338 and now to 1,118. This slow rollout sees it being much more competitive among movies at that level, because the Top 6 movies on the chart all opened in wide release, meaning that it only has to surpass Anora (which opened in limited release two months earlier) to become the highest-grossing limited release nominee.

Our Take On The Brutalist Box Office Milestone

Its Oscar Prospects Are Strong

Box office does not necessarily affect a movie’s chances at winning Best Picture. However, the fact that the movie is performing well commercially could boost its prospects amid glowing The Brutalist reviews that have earned the movie a Certified Fresh score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. By combining critical and commercial success with its previous awards success, including winning three Golden Globes and being nominated for a total of 10 Oscars, it has become a frontrunner in spite of the AI controversy swirling around it.

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Source: Deadline