Only a year after Basic Instinct broke box office records, Sharon Stone starred in another erotic thriller, Sliver. The movie was directed by Phillip Noyce and also featured William Baldwin. Although it wasn’t as massive a hit as Basic Instinct, which made $117 million domestically and more than $350 million worldwide, it was still a win for Stone. As you’d expect, Sliver did exceptionally well on home video after having grossed a little over $120 million worldwide. The movie has now been overtaken at the domestic box office by The Housemaid, another erotic thriller, which has emerged as a hit at a time when the genre was seen as having gone out of fashion. Starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, the film is on the verge of hitting the $50 million milestone domestically.
Its current haul stands at $46 million, which puts it ahead of the $36 million that Sliver ended its run with. Written by Joe Eszterhas and based on a novel by Ira Levin, the movie was produced by the infamous Robert Evans. Last year, while being interviewed on The Louis Theroux Podcast, Stone revealed that Evans urged her to have sex with Baldwin to improve their on-screen chemistry in the film; she refused. The movie ran into further trouble when Noyce was forced to make over 100 cuts to avoid the dreaded NC-17 rating. Sliver opened to terrible reviews and is now sitting at a 21% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “Sliver is an absurd erotic thriller with technobabble and posits prime Sharon Stone as a professional book nerd.”
‘The Housemaid’ Is Sydney Sweeney’s Biggest Hit Since ‘Anyone But You’
The Housemaid, however, has opened to critical appreciation. It holds a “certified fresh” 76% critics’ score and a “verified hot” 92% audience score on RT, and is all set to target the coveted $100 million mark next. It’s already Sweeney’s biggest hit since Anyone But You, which was followed by five successive flops. For Seyfried, the movie is bringing additional publicity while she campaigns for an Oscar nod for her performance in The Testament of Ann Lee. Also featuring Elizabeth Perkins, alongside Brandon Sklenar and Michele Morrone, The Housemaid is directed by Paul Feig.
You can watch The Housemaid in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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December 19, 2025
- Runtime
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131 Minutes
- Director
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Paul Feig
- Writers
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Rebecca Sonnenshine, Freida McFadden
- Producers
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Todd Lieberman, Paul Feig