Alan Ritchson’s new film earned just $1.69 million in its opening weekend against a $30 million budget.
“Motor City” debuted in 1,600 theaters on July 24 and finished ninth for the weekend, pulling in $1,693,905. That worked out to roughly $1,059 per theater. By the following week, earnings dropped 84 percent as the theater count fell from 1,600 to just 600. The film’s total domestic haul eventually settled at $2,713,586, with worldwide figures reaching approximately $3.03 million. For a film that cost $30 million to produce, the numbers were brutal.
The collapse came on the heels of a profanity-filled attack on President Donald Trump that Ritchson delivered during a late-July appearance on Josh Horowitz’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. Ritchson was on the show to promote “Motor City” when the conversation turned to the government’s release of records connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
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Ritchson called for greater transparency, then directed his anger at Trump directly. “These f, ing rapists! We’re just cool with it?” he said. He then claimed Trump was “all up into 13-year-olds” and told him to “go to jail.” He offered no evidence to support the allegation and issued no retraction or apology during the interview.
According to a report, the White House responded quickly. Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Entertainment Weekly that Trump had been “totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein.” She pointed to the administration’s release of thousands of pages of documents, its cooperation with a House Oversight Committee subpoena, and Trump’s signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“Motor City” stars Ritchson as a Detroit factory worker framed for drug possession who escapes prison to seek revenge. Shailene Woodley, Ben Foster, Pablo Schreiber, and Ben McKenzie also appear in the nearly dialogue-free thriller. Ritchson also served as a producer on the film.
MAGA supporters treated the box office figures as proof that alienating a core fanbase carries real costs. “Was a big Reacher fan until he shot his mouth off,” one X user wrote. “Will never watch anything he’s in. Hope his career is over.” Popular account Catturd posted, “LMAO, his new movie flopped, the Trump curse remains undefeated.”
Actor Kevin Sorbo said Ritchson should have known better, noting that fans of the “Reacher” series tend to lean conservative. Dean Cain jokingly prescribed a full bottle of “Trumpenol” to cure what he called “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Filmmaker Mike Binder questioned why any actor building a career would “piss off half the public” in the process. Tim Pool noted that many of these figures “can’t articulate why they are mad.”
The backlash also extended to Ritchson’s upcoming projects. Mark Meckler publicly questioned Angel Studios for casting him in the forthcoming film “Runner.” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton described the podcast comments as “more unhinged and violent rhetoric” aimed at Trump.
