The sci-fi mystery film "Mercy," starring Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson, opened to an underwhelming box office performance, despite breaking the five-week winning streak of James Cameron's "Avatar: Fire and Ash." Released by Amazon MGM on January 23, 2026, the film, directed by Timur Bekmambetov, quickly raised red flags due to its January release date, restricted review embargo, and limited marketing push.

"Mercy" grossed approximately $5 million domestically on its opening day from 3,468 locations, a figure that included $1.1 million from Thursday previews. Projections for its first weekend hovered around $12 million to $12.6 million. This domestic debut is considered a terrible result for a movie with a reported production budget of $60 million and marks a record low for Chris Pratt's career as a leading man. Previously, Pratt's worst domestic box office debut was for the sci-fi film "Passengers" in 2016, which opened with $15 million but ultimately legged it past the $100 million mark. The underperformance of "Mercy" mirrors a similar setback experienced by Sony with "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" a couple of weeks prior, which also opened around $12-13 million on a comparable $63 million budget. However, "The Bone Temple" received excellent reviews, unlike "Mercy."

Critical reception for "Mercy" has been largely negative, with the film holding a dismal 20% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The aggregator website's consensus succinctly stated, "Constricting its two stars inside an airless presentation of a clunky techno-thriller premise, Mercy is tedious enough to make you cry uncle." Critics anticipated a lack of enthusiasm, and while some found it to be "a notch or two better than you expect," the overall sentiment points to a film that failed to resonate.

Set in the near future, "Mercy" follows Chris Raven (Chris Pratt), an LAPD officer accused of murdering his wife, Nicole (Annabelle Wallis). Raven wakes from a bender to find himself arrested and strapped into a digitally wired interrogation chair as the latest defendant in the "Mercy program." This anti-crime experiment, which has fascistic undertones of government-meets-big-tech future-shock, presumes defendants guilty until proven innocent. Raven must prove his innocence to an AI-powered enforcer named Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson) within 90 minutes. If the probability of his innocence does not dip below 94%, he faces immediate execution. The film reveals Raven's past involvement with the program, as he was responsible for bringing its very first defendant to trial.

The narrative structure of "Mercy" as a real-time thriller, reminiscent of films like "D.O.A." and "Timecode," is designed to highlight the nightmare of its justice system. Yet, the film offers a nuanced take on the virtual courtroom, which, while seemingly stacked against Raven, grants him extensive investigative power. He can access documents, surveillance footage, and body-cam footage at his fingertips, using this ability to effectively "go back in time" through evidence. The sheer speed and density of clues, presented through a multimedia mixmaster style, make it an "avidly watchable mystery," even with a standard conspiracy plot. Director Timur Bekmambetov, known for films like "Wanted," helms "Mercy" with a "crisp short-attention-span gusto," utilizing three editors to achieve its rapid pace, comparing it to "Minority Report" meets "Memento" meets "Cops" meets a crime-detective video game.

For Chris Pratt, "Mercy" represents a significant setback. He has come off an outstanding decade, having starred in multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusters, three "Jurassic World" hits, and the $1.3 billion-grossing "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." However, his appeal has reportedly waned since "Guardians of the Galaxy," leading him to be perceived as a "B-list presence" in recent years. Reviewers had previously held him responsible for his character's "stalker ethics" in "Passengers." Despite this, Pratt's performance as Chris Raven in "Mercy" is noted for being "sharp and nasty and a bit 'dark'," a departure that critics suggest "looks better on him." The film subtly explores the potential for AI in justice, questioning if an AI judge could be more objective than a human jury while still needing a "human factor," making it one of the first films of its era to ask, "Can we all get along?" with AI.

While "Mercy" struggled, other films saw varying success at the weekend box office. "Avatar: Fire and Ash" added $1.7 million on its sixth Friday, projected to finish the weekend with $7.1 million, bringing its total to $378 million. Lionsgate's "The Housemaid" continued its sleeper hit run, grossing $1.48 million on Friday and expected to reach $115 million, with a sequel already in the works. Disney's "Zootopia 2" secured the fourth spot with $1.4 million on its ninth Friday, pushing its domestic total to a mighty $401 million. "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" came in fifth with $1.2 million on its second Friday, projected to add $4.2 million for a total of $21 million.