Maika Monroe at the center as ‘Reminders of Him’ surges at the box office amid brutal review split
maika monroe is in the spotlight this weekend as “Reminders of Him” overperforms at the domestic box office while drawing sharply divided reactions. As of Saturday morning (ET), Universal’s romance drama is tracking to about $19M—possibly $20M—for the weekend after winning Friday with $8M. The push is powered by a heavily female audience and solid audience metrics, even as at least one prominent critic calls the film a failure.
Box office: “Reminders of Him” overperforms, “undertone” fights for $10M
“Reminders of Him” is skewing 81% female and is playing best in the South, South Central, Midwest, and Mountain regions. Screen Engine/Comscore PostTrak shows a 66% “definite recommend” from general audiences, and the film earned a B CinemaScore.
Demographically, women over 25 make up 57% of ticket buyers, followed by 25% women under 25. Men represent 15% over 25 and 4% under 25. Women under 25 posted the strongest “definite recommend” at 70%, followed by women over 25 at 67%.
Motivations also appear clear: 32% of ticket buyers cited it being a Colleen Hoover movie (subject/plot), while 30% cited genre (romance drama). On premium screens, PLFs represent 17% of the weekend business. The top-grossing venue so far is Harkins Estrella Falls in Arizona with just over $19K.
Elsewhere on the chart, A24’s R-rated horror title “undertone” hit $4. 3M on Friday and is aiming for $10M in third place, with 22% of its box office fueled by PLFs. “undertone” carries a C CinemaScore and a 41% “definite recommend” on PostTrak, with its strongest play in the West, where close to a third of ticket sales are coming from compared to 22% for other titles in the marketplace.
maika monroe and the film’s reception: strong turnout meets harsh criticism
The film’s surge comes as critical response is not unified. In a sharply negative review, a critic for The Boston Globe argued the adaptation “deserves to be forgotten, ” calling it a “failed attempt” at weepy melodrama and attacking the credibility of the story’s plotting.
The review describes the story as following a recently paroled character named Kenna, played by Maika Monroe, and details plot points including Kenna returning to her hometown after serving a seven-year sentence for vehicular manslaughter. The same review also references Tyriq Withers as co-star, along with Bradley Whitford, Lauren Graham, Rudy Pankow, and Zoe Kosovic, while deriding specific scenes and character behavior.
That stands in contrast to the measurable audience response captured in PostTrak and CinemaScore, where the film lands in a middle range but clearly mobilizes its target audience—especially women under 25 and women over 25—at a level strong enough to push the weekend estimate beyond initial expectations.
Quick context: why this weekend matters for the market
As of Saturday morning (ET), the overall box office is not pacing for a $100M-plus weekend, but it is running better than the same period last year, with all movies collectively doing north of $87M, up 68%.
In that landscape, “Reminders of Him” is emerging as a defining title for adult-skewing romantic drama, while “undertone” is testing the ceiling for indie horror with weaker audience recommendation.
What’s next
Eyes now turn to where “Reminders of Him” ultimately lands by Sunday (ET) and whether it reaches the top end of the $19M–$20M range implied by early weekend tracking. The next major indicators will be the final weekend actuals and whether the strong female turnout and regional performance can sustain beyond opening weekend—especially with the conversation around maika monroe now tied to both box-office momentum and an unusually stark split in reception.
