MaXXXine

MaXXXine is a 2024 American slasher crime film written, directed, produced, and edited by Ti West. It is the third installment in West's X film series following X and Pearl (both 2022), serving as a direct sequel to the former. Mia Goth reprises her X role as Maxine Minx, starring alongside Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon. In the film, Maxine sets out for fame and success in 1980s Hollywood while being targeted by a mysterious killer.
MaXXXine had its premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on June 24, 2024, and was released in the United States by A24 on July 5, 2024. The film grossed $20.2 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of the series.
==Plot==
In 1985 Los Angeles, amidst the Night Stalker murders, Maxine Minx successfully auditions for the lead in a new horror film, The Puritan II, despite all of her previous film credits being in adult films. After sharing the news with her friend Leon and colleague Amber James, the latter invites Maxine to a party in the Hollywood Hills, which she declines. Maxine goes to work at her second job, a live peep show, where a mysterious, leather-clad figure watches with anger. She meets another adult entertainer, Tabby Martin, who also invites her to the party that Amber mentioned, but Maxine declines again.
As she walks home, she takes a route through a back alley as someone begins to follow her. She comes to a gate by the street, which has been chained and locked. She turns around to go back and a shadowy figure opens a switchblade. As he approaches, she pulls out a gun and points it at the man. She proceeds to tell him to strip naked and lay down on the ground face down. She tells him the last person that tried to kill her she crushed the head of,  then proceeding to stomp on his scrotum, ripping out his testicles.
The figure leaves a police evidence VHS tape containing the porn film Maxine and her now-deceased friends had attempted to make six years prior.  Upon watching it, she asks a confused Leon to find out where it came from. Meanwhile, in the Hollywood Hills, Amber and Tabby are killed and have their bodies branded with Satanic symbols. Maxine is invited to meet with John Labat, a private investigator who informs her that her previous crimes will be revealed unless she meets with his employer, telling her she must appear at a specific address on Starlight Drive later that night or risk repercussions. LAPD detectives Williams and Torres question Maxine about Tabby and Amber, but she refuses to answer them. She later sees Labat following her and attacks him, warning him to stay away from her.
Ignoring Labat's demands, Maxine begins learning the script for The Puritan II. Elsewhere, Leon is murdered in his video store. The next day, the detectives attempt to goad Maxine into cooperating with them, but she remains steadfast. Maxine confides in her agent, Teddy Knight, who tells her he could not find anything on Labat but agrees to continue helping her, nonetheless. On the set of The Puritan II, Maxine meets the star of the first film, Molly Bennett, who mentions a similar party in the Hollywood Hills. Soon after, Labat, angered by Maxine attacking him the previous day, chases her across the Universal Studios Lot with a gun before being caught and escorted away by security. Later that night, Maxine tricks Labat into following her, during which she, Knight, and her friend Shepard Turei ambush Labat, and subsequently trap him inside of his car to be crushed by a junkyard compressor.
Maxine visits the address Labat gave her, which leads her to a house in the Hollywood Hills. She finds Molly's dismembered body and learns the murders have been committed by her estranged father, a televangelist named Ernest Miller, with the assistance of the fundamentalist members of his ministry. Miller reveals he and his followers have been filming the murders to create a snuff film intended to expose Hollywood for what he sees as its sinful and corrupting nature. Thinking he can still "save" his daughter, Miller has his followers tie Maxine to a tree for an impromptu exorcism, which he also films. Torres and Williams interrupt the ceremony and cause a shootout, killing Miller's cohorts, injuring Miller, and giving Maxine time to free herself before the detectives are mortally wounded while pursuing Miller. Armed with a shotgun, Maxine eventually confronts her father at the Hollywood sign but is interrupted by a police helicopter.
Maxine envisions herself as a celebrity credited for helping stop her father, attending the premiere of The Puritan II and revealing in an interview that the film's director, Elizabeth Bender, will be directing a biographical film about her. Returning to reality, she shoots her father, telling him he gave her what she needed – divine intervention. A month later, Maxine continues her work on The Puritan II, hoping her success will never end. 
==Cast==
==Release==
MaXXXine had its premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on June 24, 2024. It was released in the United States by A24 on July 5, 2024.
===Home media===
The film was released on VOD on August 2, 2024.
== Reception ==
===Box office ===
, MaXXXine has grossed $15 million in the United States and Canada, and $5.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $20.2 million.
In the United States and Canada, MaXXXine was projected to gross around $7 million from 2,200 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $3.1 million on its first day, and went on to debut to $6.7 million, finishing in fourth.
===Critical response===
Variety reported that the reviews leaned towards positive, while Uproxx described them as mixed. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale (up from Pearl's "B-"), while those polled by PostTrak gave the film a 76% positive score, with 59% saying they would definitely recommend it.
== Future ==
MaXXXine was originally developed as the end of the X trilogy, Ti West later stated in February 2024 that he has plans for a fourth film, which would depend on the third film's reception. In May 2024, West confirmed that he was working on a fourth film and that he may develop it as his next project. However, in August 2024, during a Reddit AMA, he stated that he is "happy with where [he] left it" and that MaXXXine is likely the end of the series.
== External links ==
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== References ==
Category:2024 films
Category:A24 films
Category:2020s films
Category:Films
Category:Rated R
Category:Pages containing Mature Content
Category:Films directed by Ti West
Category:2024 horror films
Category:Sequels
Category:Films Starring Mia Goth