Despite Star Power and Buzz, DiCaprio-Led Thriller Fails to Ignite Theaters Amid Mixed Reviews and Polarizing Themes


October 15, 2025 | Los Angeles, CA – In a blow to Warner Bros. and director Paul Thomas Anderson's ambitions, the action thriller One Battle After Another has emerged as one of 2025's most notable box office disappointments. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a grizzled ex-revolutionary thrust back into chaos along the U.S.-Mexico border, the film opened to middling returns and has since sputtered, failing to recoup its hefty production costs despite crossing a modest global milestone.

The movie, loosely adapted from Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel *Vineland* and set against the backdrop of modern America's fractured politics, debuted domestically with just $22 million over its opening weekend in late September, a far cry from the $40 million-plus openings that have defined Warner Bros.' recent slate. Adding insult to injury, its international launch added only $26 million, for a global opening of $48 million—laughably low against a reported production budget exceeding $130 million, before marketing expenditures that likely pushed the total investment north of $200 million.

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Three weeks into its run, *One Battle After Another* has clawed its way to $55.7 million domestically and approximately $85.2 million internationally, totaling $140.9 million worldwide as of October 13. While this marks Anderson's highest-grossing film to date, industry analysts are quick to label it a flop: theaters typically retain about 50% of ticket sales, leaving studios with roughly $70 million so far—barely half the break-even point. Weekend drops have been brutal, with a 62% plunge in its second frame and another 45% skid the following week, signaling audience rejection amid competition from blockbusters like Tron: Ares, which roared to a $60.5 million global opening.

Critics have pointed to a laundry list of factors dooming the project, including overstuffed plotting, tonal whiplash, and a runtime pushing 2.5 hours that tests even DiCaprio's devoted fanbase. But whispers in Hollywood corridors suggest the film's unapologetically "woke" lens on the border crisis may have alienated mainstream viewers, turning what could have been a timely thriller into a polarizing artifact.

At its core, One Battle After Another follows DiCaprio's Bob Ferguson, a faded '70s radical from the fictional "French 75" collective—a ragtag group of far-left militants who once bombed government sites in protest of Vietnam and civil rights erosions. Decades later, as Ferguson raises his teenage daughter (played by newcomer Aria Shaw) in the dusty border town of El Paso, Texas, their quiet life shatters when an old comrade's child is kidnapped by a shadowy cartel tied to far-right vigilantes enforcing draconian immigration policies. The plot spirals into a reunion of the aging revolutionaries, who dust off their ideals to navigate a labyrinth of corruption, from ICE raids to privatized detention centers, all framed as symptoms of America's "absurd" descent into authoritarianism.

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Anderson, known for his textured portraits of American malaise in films like There Will Be Blood, leans hard into Pynchon's satirical DNA here, portraying the border situation not as a straightforward law-and-order saga but as a chaotic farce born of systemic failures. Latino characters, including a resilient migrant activist (Zoe Saldaña) and a Chicano ex-militant (Diego Luna), emerge as moral anchors, resisting what the script derides as "militia cosplay" by white nationalists patrolling the Rio Grande. Scenes of Ferguson grappling with his privilege—lamenting how "the wall wasn't built to keep them out, but us in"—drip with contemporary allegory, nodding to real-world debates over asylum seekers and family separations.

For some, this approach elevates the film into vital political commentary, with outlets praising its nod to "Latino resistance" in an era of escalating border tensions. Roger Ebert's site called it a "smack in the face" to complacency, applauding Anderson's El Paso-filmed authenticity. Yet detractors argue the "woke" bent—complete with on-the-nose monologues about toxic masculinity in law enforcement and the commodification of suffering—feels preachy and dated, alienating the heartland audiences who flock to apolitical action fare like Top Gun: Maverick.

"Paul Thomas Anderson is a genius, but geniuses don't always sell tickets," one studio insider told Variety. "This one's too busy lecturing about the border to deliver the explosions we crave." As One Battle After Another fades from multiplexes, it serves as a cautionary tale: In a divided nation, even Oscar bait can bomb if it picks too many sides.

Warner Bros. declined comment on the film's performance, but with streaming rights already in play for a November HBO Max drop, the studio may pivot to digital salvation. For now, Anderson's battle rages on—off-screen, where the real flops are measured not in millions, but in missed connections.