An ironclad contender to the title of worst movie in the history of cinema makes an incomprehensible comeback on streaming

It’s easy to get lost in the moment and describe a movie as being one of the worst ever made, but there are a few features out there worthy of cinema’s most unwanted accolade, and contenders don’t come much stronger than the horrendous Battlefield Earth.

The most impressive thing about the sci-fi disaster is that it didn’t completely kill John Travolta’s career outright, although it did drive a stake through his resurgenct 1990s comeback with a single fell swoop. The A-list Scientologist was so caught up in his own belief in the project he genuinely courted Quentin Tarantino as a potential director, only to end up with the dude who shot second unit on The Phantom Menace instead.

Setting a record it held for over a decade as the most-awarded “winner” in Razzies history with a whopping eight trophies, Battlefield Earth also tanked at the box office after failing to recoup even half of its ludicrous $78 million budget. Forever it shall live in infamy, and we can only hope that morbid curiosity is what’s been driving it up the streaming charts, because there’s really no other reason for anybody to watch it.

Per FlixPatrol, L. Ron Hubbard’s cosmic sack of crap has barreled onto Max’s Top 10 in 20 countries around the world, and we’d be amazed if even a fraction of those viewers make it all the way to the end credits. Battlefield Earth is genuinely every bit as bad as its reputation suggests, perhaps even worse, and it tanked so hard in theaters its production company went bankrupt in amongst allegations of fraudulent financial practices.