Netflix’s Most-Watched Movie Is One of Hollywood’s Biggest Bombs

I haven’t done one of these “strange movie is ironically doing well on Netflix” blogs in a while, partly because the Netflix charts have been generally devoid of irony, and the top 10 has been dominated by programming. Beyond the normal schedule of buzzy television series, Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur and the Legend of the Sword is still at ninth position in America (You season 3, Squid Game, Maid, Maya and the Three, etc.). When the all-star western The Harder They Fall and the Army of the Dead prequel Army of Thieves release on Friday, followed by the Dwayne Johnson/Gal Gadot/Ryan Reynolds mega-movie Red Notice on November 12, I predict cinema to make a “comeback.”

The $175 million King Arthur film, which received mixed reviews and only made $148 million worldwide when it debuted in May 2017. It was a textbook illustration of everything done wrong and a rejection to all ongoing (even now) popular thinking, without relitigating. Just because people are familiar with King Arthur doesn’t imply, they want to watch a film adaptation, or that the figure requires a Batman-style origin narrative. While the picture did the “You’ll get to witness King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table kick ass together in the sequel!” thing, Charlie Hunnam isn’t the next Tom Cruise, nor is Taylor Kitsch or Armie Hammer.

King Arthur, like Tarzan, Peter Pan, and (to a lesser extent) Superman, is one of those figures that Hollywood thinks fans want to see onscreen in a big-budget action adventure just because they’ve heard of them. Even Star Wars as a brand couldn’t get people interested in a young Han Solo film, which is another example of almost tripling your budget to produce a film that isn’t necessarily better or worse than what was originally envisioned.