Russell Crowe's Neo-Western With Ethan Hawke Officially Removed From 1,500 Theaters

Published Oct 15, 2026, 11:38 AM EDT

Ryan Northrup is a Senior Staff Writer on ScreenRant's Movie & TV News team, where he has authored nearly 5,000 articles, including features and reviews. A graduate of McMaster University, Ryan began his career in public relations before attending Vancouver Film School. There, he built lasting industry connections and optioned a feature film screenplay.

The Weight has just taken a theatrical hit.

Directed by Padraic McKinley, the neo-Western film stars Russell Crowe and Ethan Hawke and tells the story of a veteran who is hired to smuggle gold across a wild landscape during the Great Depression. After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, The Weight released in theaters on September 18.

Now, per Collider, The Weight's theatrical run just wound down in a major way. Debuting in more than 1,500 theaters nationwide last month, the Vertical film is now down to just 21 as of this past weekend. The historical crime thriller hasn't been a strong box office performer so far, and this new decrease in screens will make any box office gains from this point forward minimal.

To date, The Weight has grossed only about $3.7 million worldwide, with $3.59 million of that coming from North America. The poor box office performance may have played a role in the film losing theaters, but it's also not unusual for a movie to be playing on far fewer screens a month after its release. It's not entirely clear what the film's budget is, but it will almost certainly not break even during its theatrical run.

Still, The Weight can be considered a success in other ways. Reviews for the film have been generally quite positive. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie holds an impressive critics' score of 94%, with the Popcornmeter coming in a bit lower at 84%.

ScreenRant's The Weight review by Alex Harrison is also positive at a score of seven out of 10. For Harrison, the movie features a handful of strong moments, including a stellar opening and at least one nail-biting set piece involving a rope bridge, but it can't quite sustain this tension throughout its entire runtime. Harrison writes:

Not all of The Weight is quite as good as this beginning; once the story proper gets going, the script settles into a rhythm that dulls some of its ability to cut right through to our nervous system. But there are more than enough moments of visceral filmmaking to make this wonderfully atmospheric period thriller an engaging watch. If anything, it's a testament to what McKinley can do that I would rather watch these characters have a tense conversation than actually try to kill each other.

For Crowe, The Weight comes on the heels of films like The Get Out (2026), Beast (2026), Nuremberg (2025), Kraven the Hunter (2024), and The Exorcism (2024). Of these titles, only Beast and Nuremberg earned positive reviews. The Weight also arrived only days before the release of Unabomber on Netflix, a film that explores the origins of the eponymous serial killer and features Crowe as Ted Kaczynski's Harvard professor Henry Murray.

Hawke, meanwhile, has recently appeared in movies like Blue Moon (2025); Black Phone 2 (2025); and I, Object (2026). Hawke also stars in The Lowdown season 2, which premiered on October 14 and, like season 1, has earned glowing reviews.

The Weight is set to release on digital on October 20, meaning there isn't long to wait before viewers can check out the new Crowe and Hawke movie at home. Though not a major hit in theaters, with such positive reviews, the film seems likely to gain more traction with audiences as a VOD and eventual streaming title.