A catastrophic big budget bust wisely yanked from theaters barely survives another streaming reincarnation

It wasn’t the worst idea in the world for Paramount Plus to hedge its bets on a big budget blockbuster hailing from an accomplished director and proven star to anchor the launch of the streaming service as a marquee debut title, apart from the fact Infinite was awful.

Initially destined for a theatrical release, the studio decided that the safer option was to entice new subscribers to sign up based on a high concept sci-fi action epic starring Mark Wahlberg as a perpetually-confused man with memories of lives he’s lived but doesn’t remember teaming up with reincarnated warriors to prevent Chiwitel Ejiofor’s scenery-chewing villain from destroying the perpetual cycle of life.

It’s a decent enough setup, and the budget is right there on the screen for all to see, but Infinite was lucky it was yanked from theaters, because there’s a distinct possibility it would have cratered on the box office. When the dust had settled, the film was left with a 16 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and three Razzie nominations including Worst Picture and Worst Director, but it still refuses to go quietly into the streaming night.

Incredulously underlining its unexpected longevity, Infinite may not be one of the most-watched titles on its home streamer, but it has nonetheless shockingly cracked the most-watched rankings on Prime Video, iTunes, and Starz this week according to FlixPatrol, even though it deserves to be buried deep underground in the vault of catastrophic on-demand failures to never be seen or heard from again.