Image Credit: Amazon MGM Studios — Official Trailer via YouTube
The How to Rob a Bank box office collection has turned into one of the biggest disappointments of the November 2026 season. David Leitch’s heist comedy, starring Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz and Pete Davidson, opened in cinemas on 13 November 2026 and is heading for an opening weekend of only around $4.7 million in North America. For a film that cost more than $40 million to make, with a star-heavy cast and a director coming off Bullet Train and The Fall Guy, that is a flop by any honest measure.
The film did not even manage to win its opening day. It finished third on Friday behind Johnny Depp’s Ebenezer and Godzilla Minus Zero, and the weekend projections only got worse as Saturday arrived. Early tracking had once suggested an opening as high as $15 million. The final number is less than a third of that.
How to Rob a Bank Box Office Collection Opening Weekend: The Numbers
Here is what the How to Rob a Bank box office collection looks like after its first day, based on figures reported by Deadline and Variety.
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Friday (13 Nov) | $2.2 million, including $900,000 from Thursday previews, from 2,810 theatres, 3rd place for the day |
| Opening weekend (projected) | $4.7 million |
| Reported budget | more than $40 million, with some reports putting it near $60 million |
| Per-screen average on Friday | just $794, according to The Numbers |
The $900,000 earned in Thursday previews is the most revealing figure of all. Previews usually make up a much smaller share of a healthy opening Friday. Here, they accounted for about 40 percent of the entire Friday total, which means the film’s core fans showed up on Thursday and almost nobody followed them on Friday.
A $900K Preview Night That Warned of Trouble
The warning signs for the How to Rob a Bank box office collection were there before the film even opened. How to Rob a Bank was originally scheduled to release on 4 September 2026, but Amazon MGM pushed it back to 13 November for a Thanksgiving season release, after the original trailer earned a strongly positive response. The delay was meant to give the film a better window. Instead, the film arrived in a crowded weekend and was immediately overshadowed.
Johnny Depp’s Ebenezer took $6.7 million on the same Friday and is heading for a $20 million to $21 million opening weekend. Godzilla Minus Zero, in its second weekend, was still pulling crowds. How to Rob a Bank, the weekend’s other wide opener, was left fighting for third place with a fraction of either film’s numbers.
The film’s premise should have travelled well on social media. It follows a crew of bank robbers who livestream their heists, turning each crime into a viral spectacle while the authorities close in. The trailer leaned hard into that angle, and the cast is full of names that usually draw attention. But a viral premise is not the same as a viral film, and the opening weekend suggests the audience never converted from trailer viewers into ticket buyers.
Why the Opening Fell So Far Short of Early Tracking
Early projections for the How to Rob a Bank box office collection were far more optimistic. Some forecasts had the film opening at $15 million, and even the more cautious models expected around $8 million. The final projection of $4.7 million is about 42 percent below what the tracking models predicted, according to The Numbers.
Three things went wrong at once for the How to Rob a Bank box office collection. First, the reviews were poor. The film holds only 33 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, and that score was visible to everyone deciding whether to book a ticket. Second, the audience response was only lukewarm, with a B- CinemaScore that sits well below the A- earned by Leitch’s previous film, The Fall Guy. Third, the film faced direct competition from Ebenezer, which captured the family and holiday audience that How to Rob a Bank might have needed.
The marketing also struggled to explain what the film actually is. Is it a comedy, a heist thriller, or a satire of social media culture? The trailer sold the energy, but the reviews suggest the film itself never settles on a tone, and audiences who did see it gave it only an 80 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes — respectable, but not the kind of number that drives word of mouth.
Nicholas Hoult’s Weakest Wide Debut in Years
For Nicholas Hoult, the How to Rob a Bank box office collection is a personal low point. If the $4.7 million projection holds, it will officially be the seventh-worst domestic debut in history for a wide-release Nicholas Hoult film, meaning a film that played in 600 theatres or more during its opening weekend.
The comparison that stings most is Renfield, Hoult’s 2023 horror-comedy, which opened with $8 million and went on to earn just $26.9 million against a reported $65 million budget. How to Rob a Bank is opening at barely more than half of Renfield’s debut, and Renfield was already considered a bomb.
Hoult plays the leader of the robbery crew, a character who uses social media to deliver a message with every crime. He is joined by Zoë Kravitz, Anna Sawai, Rhenzy Feliz, Pete Davidson, Christian Slater and John C. Reilly. It is a genuinely strong ensemble, which makes the result harder to explain — and harder for the studio to accept.
What Critics and Audiences Actually Thought
The split between critics and audiences is the one small bright spot in the How to Rob a Bank box office collection story. Critics were harsh, with only 33 percent approval on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences were far kinder, giving the film an 80 percent audience score. The B- CinemaScore sits in the middle: not a disaster, but not the kind of grade that sends people rushing to tell their friends.
That gap matters because it hints the film may find a second life later. Amazon MGM releases often do well on streaming, and a heist comedy with a viral premise could play much better at home than it did in cinemas. But for the theatrical run, the damage is already done. A $4.7 million opening from 2,810 theatres means the How to Rob a Bank box office collection leaves almost no room for a recovery, however good the word of mouth might be.
The film runs for 122 minutes and carries an R rating. David Leitch directs from a screenplay by Mark Bianculli. It is Leitch’s first film since The Fall Guy, and the contrast between the two releases could hardly be sharper.
The David Leitch Comparison That Hurts Most
David Leitch built his directing career on stylish, crowd-pleasing action films. Bullet Train opened with $30 million domestically in 2022, and The Fall Guy opened with $27.7 million in 2024. Both featured major stars in Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling. How to Rob a Bank, with a $4.7 million opening, is not even in the same league.
Part of the gap is star power. Hoult is a respected actor, but he is not the box office draw that Pitt or Gosling are. Part of it is the genre: a heist comedy about livestreamed robberies is a harder sell than a star-led action film. And part of it is simply timing. The film opened in a weekend dominated by Ebenezer’s comeback story and Godzilla Minus Zero’s second weekend, and it never found its own audience.
The studio’s own projection for the How to Rob a Bank box office collection, $4.7 million, is close to the independent models, which suggests nobody inside Amazon MGM expects a surprise recovery. The film will need an extraordinary hold in its second weekend to change the story, and with a B- CinemaScore, that looks unlikely.
Can How to Rob a Bank Recover in the Coming Weeks?
The honest answer is probably not in cinemas. A film whose How to Rob a Bank box office collection opens with $4.7 million against a budget of more than $40 million would need to multiply its opening several times over just to approach break-even, and the second-weekend drop for a film with a B- CinemaScore is usually steep. The UK and Ireland forecast of £1 million to £2 million for the opening weekend, reported by Boxoffice Pro, does not change the picture either.
What the film does have is a future on streaming. As an Amazon MGM production, it is expected to arrive on Prime Video eventually, though no OTT date or platform has been officially announced yet. A heist comedy built around social media virality may find the audience at home that it could not find in theatres, and the 80 percent audience score suggests viewers who do watch it enjoy it more than the critics did.
For now, though, the How to Rob a Bank box office collection stands as a warning about the gap between a good trailer and a good opening weekend. The film had the cast, the director, the premise and the marketing. What it did not have was an audience willing to pay for a ticket on opening weekend, and in the end that is the only number that matters.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the How to Rob a Bank box office collection for its opening weekend?
How to Rob a Bank is projected to earn around $4.7 million in its domestic opening weekend from 2,810 theatres, after taking $2.2 million on Friday including $900,000 from Thursday previews.
What is the budget of How to Rob a Bank?
The film’s budget is reported at more than $40 million by Variety, with some reports putting the cost closer to $60 million.
Who stars in How to Rob a Bank?
Nicholas Hoult leads the cast as the head of the robbery crew, alongside Zoë Kravitz, Anna Sawai, Rhenzy Feliz, Pete Davidson, Christian Slater and John C. Reilly. David Leitch directs.
Is How to Rob a Bank a flop?
By box office standards, yes. A $4.7 million opening against a budget of more than $40 million, with a 33 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, makes it one of the weakest wide openings of Nicholas Hoult’s career.
When will How to Rob a Bank release on OTT?
No OTT date or platform has been officially announced yet. As an Amazon MGM film, it is expected to arrive on Prime Video eventually, but that has not been confirmed.
What is the runtime of How to Rob a Bank?
The film runs for 122 minutes and carries an R rating.
Image Credit: Amazon MGM Studios — Official Trailer via YouTube
