The 4th adaptation of a sci-fi classic – and also the worst and least successful by far – thwarts an intergalactic streaming takeover

Provided it manages to justify its existence, there’s always going to be a place for remakes, reboots, or do-overs of established cinematic classics, but 2007’s The Invasion instead decided to hammer home the notion that some titles need to be left well alone.

Having already been brought to the screen through Don Siegel’s 1956 classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Philip Kaufman’s 1978 version that’s one of the greatest remakes and sci-fi stories in cinema history, and Abel Ferrara’s 1993 iteration Body Snatchers, it’s not as if the world was crying out to see the exact same story unfold again.

Slathered in the trappings of Hollywood excess, Warner Bros. nonetheless decided that spending $80 million on the production and paying star Nicole Kidman $17 million was worth the investment, which proved to be a kiss of death after director Oliver Hirschbergel was booted from reshoots penned by the Wachowskis, with the additional shooting happening over a year after The Invasion first called it a wrap.

At the end of the day, the studio was left with nothing but a colossal bomb on its hands after the film was panned by critics, and limped to an embarrassing box office haul of just over $40 million. One of the most pointless blockbusters in recent memory that fails to bring anything new to a table that had been laid three times already, The Invasion has somehow conspired to capture a brand new audience on streaming.

Per FlixPatrol, the forgettable dud is one of the most-watched features on Google Play this week, which we’ll blame on an alien invasion assimilating hapless viewers and convincing them it’s worth their time.