A $100 million remake blasted by the legacy players and forced to scrap a sequel after bombing makes a daring streaming escape

From the outside looking in, there were plenty of reasons to expect The A-Team to ride a wave of buzz and momentum to box office success, based entirely on the talent involved and its central conceit.

One of the most iconic TV shows of all-time with a theme tune that never leaves your brain after you hear it for the first time, the premise of a charismatic quartet of rogues banding together to right wrongs and overturn injustices was tailor-made for a fresh coat of $110 million feature-length paint.

Throw in director Joe Carnahan re-teaming with freshly-minted action megastar Liam Neeson after their acclaimed collaboration on The Grey, rapidly-rising Bradley Cooper, District 9 breakout Sharlto Copley, and Quinton “Rampage” Jones stepping into Mr. T’s shoes, and the ingredients were all there.

Unfortunately, the recipe was nowhere near as delicious as it should have been, with critics and crowds reacting to The A-Team with little more than apathy. Mediocre reviews parlayed into a dismal $177 million at the box office, with plans for sequels quietly abandoned and swept under the rug.

Matters weren’t helped by the fact the original cast openly blasted the movie, too, with Dirk Benedict admitting he regretted his cameo, while Dwight Shultz criticized it for being “not really derivative” of its inspiration, and Mr. T’s publicist revealed that he didn’t even bother to watch it at all.

A fairly big loss all-round, then, but one streaming subscribers are keen to get on board with this week. Per FlixPatrol, The A-Team has roared back into life as one of the top-viewed titles on iTunes, and you get the sneaking suspicion there’s going to be another reboot eventually.