With only a couple of major movies to his credit in the last decade or so, Russell Crowe has been busy starring in small-scale projects that have proven to be rather hit-or-miss. Some of them have exceeded box-office expectations, while others have found success on the home-video market. Several others have been lost in the ether. With the crime drama movie The Get Out currently topping the domestic Paramount+ leaderboard and the psychological thriller Unabomber slated for release on Netflix on September 25, this is turning out to be an eventful month for the Oscar-winning Crowe. What’s making the month sweeter is the release of a new Western that also happens to be the best-reviewed movie Crowe has starred in since 1999.
Crowe has experience with the Western genre, which has been having something of a resurgence in the last two years. In 1995, Crowe played a memorable role in Sam Raimi‘s underrated revisionist Western The Quick and the Dead. Then, in 2007, he starred alongside Christian Bale in the acclaimed Western remake 3:10 to Yuma, directed by James Mangold. His co-star in the new Western is Ethan Hawke, who is no stranger to the genre either. Hawke starred alongside John Travolta in the little-seen movie In a Valley of Violence, directed by Ti West and released in 2016. He was also a part of the ensemble of Antoine Fuqua‘s The Magnificent Seven remake. In 2020, Hawke starred in the Showtime limited series The Good Lord and Bird.
Here’s How Much Russell Crowe and Ethan Hawke’s New Movie Grossed in Its Box-Office Debut
Hawke and Crowe’s new movie is called The Weight, helmed by Padraic McKinley in his directorial debut. It follows an incarcerated man who goes to great lengths to reunite with his daughter, while dealing with a menacing warden. The movie holds a “Certified Fresh” 93% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “The Weight turns a stripped-down tale of desperation into a gripping, hard-hitting thriller, elevated by Ethan Hawke’s magnetic performance and Padraic McKinley’s assured direction.” This makes it the highest-rated movie that Crowe has starred in since The Insider, directed by Michael Mann, which holds a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Crowe’s breakout hit, L.A. Confidential, on the other hand, is sitting at a 99% score on the aggregator. This weekend, The Weight found a spot on the domestic top-10 list with a $2.5 million haul from approximately 1,500 theaters. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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September 18, 2026
- Runtime
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115 minutes
- Director
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Padraic McKinley




























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