8 Movies That Found a Bigger Audience on Streaming Than in Theaters

Box office numbers used to be the final word on whether a movie succeeded. That is no longer true. A film can quietly underperform in multiplexes and then, weeks or months later, become one of the most watched titles on a major streaming platform, reaching more people at home than it ever did on a big screen.

The pattern has become common enough that studios now plan for it, often fast-tracking a theatrical flop straight to premium video on demand or a streaming exclusive. Here are eight movies where the streaming afterlife ended up mattering more than the opening weekend.

1. The Fall Guy (2024)

Despite its positive critical reception, The Fall Guy underwhelmed at the box office, earning less than $28 million on its opening weekend and a worldwide total of $180 million against a production budget of $125 million. That kind of return on a stunt-heavy action comedy with two major stars counted as a disappointment by industry standards, even if the film itself was well liked.

The real turnaround came once it landed on Peacock. The Fall Guy unexpectedly surpassed Oppenheimer’s streaming record on Peacock after a disappointing box office run earlier this year, and the fact that it surpassed Oppenheimer as the most streamed movie on Peacock in just a few weeks was incredibly impressive. Few people would have predicted a Ryan Gosling stunt comedy outpacing a Best Picture winner on any platform.

2. Argylle (2024)

Matthew Vaughn’s globe-trotting spy comedy arrived with a massive budget and a starry cast, then landed with a thud in theaters. With an estimated budget of $200 million and a worldwide box office of $96.2 million, it’s hard to argue that Argylle has been one of Vaughn’s biggest flops of the 2020s. Reviews were unkind, and the box office math simply did not work out for a film that expensive.

Streaming told a different story. The critically panned Argylle has not earned better reviews since its release on streaming, but it has appealed to a much larger audience than it did in theaters, and since it was added to Apple TV+, its streaming performance has earned a place as the second most popular title on Apple TV+ in April. The reviews never improved, but the audience clearly showed up once the price of admission was already covered by a subscription.

3. Air (2023)

Ben Affleck’s drama about Nike’s pursuit of a young Michael Jordan performed respectably in theaters but never turned into the crossover hit some expected. The movie made about $90 million at the box office, while according to Deadline, $125 million was spent on the film. A story built around a beloved brand and a legendary athlete still could not fully close that budget gap on ticket sales alone.

Once it hit Prime Video, the calculus changed. Over 1 million users streamed it during its initial online release, and it remained one of Prime’s most successful films. For a talky drama about sneaker contracts, that is a remarkable second life.

4. Don’t Look Up (2021)

Adam McKay’s satirical disaster comedy had one of the most stacked casts of its era, yet its theatrical run was almost nonexistent. It was only in theaters for a few short weeks and didn’t even earn $1 million, according to Box Office Mojo. A pandemic-era release window and a story hitting close to home during a real crisis likely did not help matters.

Netflix is where the film actually found its audience. People did eventually give it a shot, and it became one of Netflix’s most-watched movies in January 2022. A movie that barely registered on ticket sales charts ended up as one of the platform’s biggest conversation pieces that winter.

5. Dumb Money (2023)

This dramatization of the GameStop short squeeze had cultural relevance built in, given how widely the real event was covered. Even so, after only earning around $20 million in theaters, Dumb Money went nearly as viral as the short squeeze it was based on when it hit Netflix in January 2024. The theatrical run simply came and went without much notice from casual moviegoers.

The streaming rollout changed that entirely. Audiences who had followed the actual GameStop saga online seemed far more inclined to watch a dramatized version of it from their couch than to buy a movie ticket for a stock market story, and the film’s Netflix run reflected that shift in appetite.

6. 65 (2023)

Adam Driver’s sci-fi survival thriller, about an astronaut stranded on prehistoric Earth, struggled to find its footing at the box office and spent years in development before release. This film, which had already spent years in development hell, took another three years to truly find success when it blew up on Netflix in April 2024, being seen by over 1.7 million American households after being added to the streaming service’s library. That is a striking turnaround for a movie that barely registered during its theatrical window.

The dinosaur-survival premise, paired with a recognizable lead actor, turned out to be exactly the kind of easy, high-concept watch that streaming audiences gravitate toward on a weekend night. Sometimes a film just needs the right platform and the right moment to click.

7. Mortal Kombat (2021)

Warner Bros released this video game adaptation during its short-lived day and date strategy, putting it in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously. Mortal Kombat was released in early 2021 when vaccines were still rolling out, so it makes sense that audiences didn’t rush to theaters for it when they could watch it at home, and the film grossed only $84.4 million, but Mortal Kombat was the most streamed movie of WB’s entire day and date plan. The streaming numbers made the box office figure look almost irrelevant by comparison.

That streaming performance had real consequences. The movie was successful enough for Warner Bros to quickly green light a sequel, despite its low box office numbers. It is one of the clearest examples of a studio treating streaming data, rather than ticket sales, as the true measure of success.

8. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)

Guy Ritchie’s World War II action film had a strong cast led by Henry Cavill and the kind of stylish, fast-paced action Ritchie is known for, yet it never found theatrical traction. While some movies of 2024 were modest disappointments, this was closer to a flop for Ritchie and the producers, and it was surprising that the film underperformed so extremely given its all-star cast and promise of well-choreographed, fast-paced action sequences. The limited theatrical rollout it received outside the United States did not help build momentum either.

Streaming told a more forgiving story. These aspects are likely what saved The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare on streaming, and while critics gave the movie more mixed reviews, audiences came out in support of the project, which had a limited theatrical release to begin with. It is a useful reminder that a film’s theatrical release strategy can shape its box office outcome just as much as the movie itself does.

Taken together, these eight films point to a broader shift in how success gets measured in the film industry. Box office numbers still matter for marketing and prestige, but they no longer tell the whole story of whether a movie found its audience. Streaming has given plenty of decent films a second chance to be seen, sometimes turning what looked like a costly misfire into one of a platform’s most watched titles within weeks of release.