Brendan Fraser's Buzzy New Drama Smashes Box Office Record Set By His Oscar-Winning Comeback Movie

Brendan Fraser’s new movie Rental Family breaks a record previously set by his 2022 drama The Whale, which won him an Oscar for Best Actor. The Whale was previously a major comeback for the George of the Jungle and The Mummy actor.

In addition to earning him his first Oscar, it became both his highest-grossing movie of the decade so far and his highest-grossing movie in general since the 2014 animated feature The Nut Job. Rental Family has already garnered similar Oscar buzz after debuting in September at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

In addition to landing him on Gold Derby‘s list of the year’s 15 most likely Best Actor nominees (alongside Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another, Timothée Chalamet for Marty Supreme, and more), Rental Family has earned a Certified Fresh 87% Rotten Tomatoes score compared to The Whale‘s muted 64%.

Per Deadline, Rental Family is projected to earn a 3-day total of $3.2 million at the domestic box office by the end of its opening weekend. While this pales in comparison to the expected haul of its fellow new release, Wicked: For Good ($151.5 million), it was never meant to directly compete with the fantasy tentpole.

In its own sphere, 2025’s Rental Family is significantly outperforming The Whale. While the movies’ opening weekends cannot be directly compared (Rental Family is playing in 1,925 theaters while The Whale had a limited debut in just six theaters, earning $332,152.), it is beating its predecessor by several important metrics.

This expected $3.2 million gross for Rental Family is larger than The Whale‘s wide expansion ($144,755 in 603 theaters), its widest weekend ($974,155 in 1,721 theaters), and its highest-grossing weekend ($1.9 million in 1,500 theaters).

One place where The Whale is on a more even playing field is the movies’ relative per-screen averages. Rental Family‘s expected per-screen average is $1,622, which sees it outgrossing just six of The Whale‘s first 10 opening weekends. Below, see a breakdown of the per-screen averages for the beginning of The Whale‘s run:

The Whale had strong week-on-week holds, largely thanks to the fact that it debuted on December 9, taking advantage of both the holiday season’s ability to mint slow-and-steady hits and the fact that Fraser’s Oscar nomination helped bring audiences to theaters through the Academy Awards ceremony in March.

While it remains to be seen if Rental Family will be able to follow the lead of the previous Brendan Fraser movie, it has been set up to be a similar success with its pre-Thanksgiving debut and Oscar buzz. If it is able to maintain this level of audience interest, it is possible that it could far exceed The Whale‘s $57.6 million overall worldwide total by the end of its run.

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