One Battle After Another Needs To Make $260 Million, Test Screening Results Revealed

UPDATE 3/28: A previous version of this article stated the movie needed to make $350 million to break even. This is because Variety’s article originally stated that it needed to make $350 million, but they have since changed the number to $260 million. A correction has not yet appeared in Variety’s article.

One Battle After Another needs to make at least $260 million at the global box office in order to break even.

The first trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another was released earlier this week. The movie, which will be released in theaters later this year, stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, and more.

According to a recent report from Variety, One Battle After Another has a $130 million-plus budget.

“Anderson’s highest-grossing release, 2007’s There Will Be Blood, earned $76 million worldwide,” Variety’s article notes. “One Battle will need to make $260 million globally, at least, to justify its means. For context: DiCaprio’s Once Upon a Time earned $392.1 million at the box office, but it also co-starred Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.”

What are people saying about One Battle After Another following the test screenings?

According to Variety, Anderson allowed Warner Bros. to hold test screenings for One Battle After Another — this being the first Anderson movie that has had test screenings since 1997’s Boogie Nights — given the high budget. It has so far been shown to test audiences in Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Dallas.

“A consistent note came up: audiences struggled ‘to root for’ any of the characters, bringing up the age-old question about ‘likability’ in commercial films,” Variety’s article states.

DiCaprio, meanwhile, has been praised for a “quirky performance,” while “del Toro scored highest of all” during the test screenings and Penn’s character is “also indexing high.”

“[A source] also suggested DeLuca and Anderson were fighting over the final cut of the film, which is running over 2.5 hours,” the article continues. “Studio insiders denied any tension between De Luca and Anderson (adding that the former was in the latter’s wedding party). Another source added that Anderson has voluntarily trimmed between eight to 10 minutes from One Battle after early screening feedback.”

One Battle After Another will be released in United States theaters on September 26, 2025, from Warner Bros. Pictures.