Anne Hathaway's Overlooked Horror Film Becomes HBO Max's Top Movie Worldwide

Anne Hathaway has given us some of the most iconic characters of recent decades, from Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises and Dr. Amelia Brand in Interstellar to, of course, Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada. Fans got to see plenty of Hathaway on the big screen this year, starting with her return as Andy in The Devil Wears Prada 2, then as Penelope alongside Matt Damon's Odysseus in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. She also co-led David Robert Mitchell's The End of Oak Street, alongside Ewan McGregor, where she faced off against dinosaurs in the twisty sci-fi mystery.

Among her many performances this year, there's one feature that did not get its due. The performance in question is in the psychological drama, Mother Mary. Directed by David Lowery, the feature sees Hathaway as a troubled, global pop icon and Michaela Coel as her estranged former costume designer and lover. While the audience is accustomed to a tense character study when it comes to a pop star's story, the narrative pivots into haunting surreal supernatural horror. We follow Mother Mary (Hathaway), who flees her life in Los Angeles after a highly public, emotional breakdown backstage during her tour. She arrives uninvited at the remote estate of Sam Anselm (Coel), her former lover, and the visionary designer who originally built Mary's public identity and mythology. When Mary begs Sam to design a "resurrection dress" for a career comeback concert, the two women work together. But soon their deep resentment, guilt, and artistic obsession surface, and the film quickly shifts from a tense psychological battle into a gothic metaphysical fantasy.

Lowery directs from his own script and touches upon the themes of the cost of fame and modern stardom; through Mary and Sam, we explore the blurred lines between the muse and the creator, examining whether an artist can ever truly possess their own identity. With its music-video-inspired cinematography, high fashion costuming, and compelling performances, the movie earned a 69% Rotten Tomatoes rating. However, it proved a commercial disappointment, earning $3 million worldwide on a relatively high $20 million budget.

'Mother Mary' Gets its Due on Streaming

Mother Mary isn't the first movie this year that has found a global audience after box office failure — movies like In the Grey and Masters of the Universe have exploded on streaming — and it won't be the last. Mother Mary has claimed the top spot on HBO Max's global top 10 charts, as per FlixPatrol. The chart also includes films like Gremlins, Contagion, Evil Dead Burn, and The Northman, among others.