Alan Ritchson’s latest action thriller has stumbled in its theatrical debut. Despite strong pre-release buzz, the film opened well below expectations. The dialogue-light revenge story finally reached U.S. theaters after a lengthy journey from the festival circuit, but its opening weekend failed to generate much momentum.
Alan Ritchson’s Motor City flops at box office opening
Motor City hit a major roadblock at the domestic box office, collecting $1.625 million from roughly 1,600 theaters during its opening frame. The 103-minute action thriller had generated curiosity for its unusual storytelling style, but that interest did not translate into ticket sales, making for a disappointing nationwide launch after months of anticipation.
Directed by Potsy Ponciroli and written by Chad St. John, the film unfolds in 1970s Detroit. Alan Ritchson stars as John Miller, whose life is shattered after he falls in love with a local gangster’s girlfriend.
Framed for a crime he did not commit and sent to prison, Miller eventually returns with revenge as his only goal. The cast also includes Shailene Woodley, Ben Foster, Ben McKenzie, Pablo Schreiber, Lionel Boyce and Amar Chadha-Patel.
Motor City takes a very different road from most revenge movies. Rather than filling scenes with long conversations, it keeps dialogue to an absolute minimum, letting intense action, striking visuals, music, and the actors’ performances do almost all the storytelling. The film first debuted at the Venice Film Festival in August 2025 before finally landing a nationwide U.S. release through RLJE Films after a long stretch on the shelf.
Reviews ended up somewhere in the middle. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie sits at 65% with critics and 69% with audiences, while IMDb users have given it a 6.2/10 rating. Those numbers suggest fans generally liked what they saw, but the buzz wasn’t strong enough to turn the film into a box-office success.
Alan Ritchson is one of Hollywood’s busiest action stars despite the setback. He broke through globally as Jack Reacher in Prime Video’s Reacher, a role that has become the defining performance of his career. Beyond Motor City, he is already filming Season 4 of Reacher and is also set to appear in the franchise’s upcoming Neagley spinoff.
