Two box office bombs starring Marvel heroes hit Netflix this month. Traditionally, Hollywood blockbusters relied on the popularity of their leading stars, but these days audiences tend to be much more reliably drawn to theaters by their favorite characters or franchises instead. That means that while a major star can rake in billions in a superhero film, they might feature in a financial flop when they don’t have a cape around their shoulders.
That’s what happened in the cases of 2011’s Warrior and 2015’s Blackhat. These two films — one being a sports drama starring Venom‘s very own Tom Hardy and the other a 2015 action thriller with Thor‘s Chris Hemsworth — both sunk without a trace at the global box office and failed to even make back their budgets. But at least they’ve got another chance to find a fanbase as they debut on Netflix in the United States this month.
Warrior sees Hardy play a gifted fighter who is trained by his recovering alcoholic father (Nick Nolte) as he competes in a winner-takes-all MMA tournament, all while reconnecting with his estranged brother (Joel Edgerton). While audiences didn’t show up for this fight, critics reacted warmly to the movie, with Nolte even receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
The same can’t be said for Blackhat, which crashed and burned with moviegoers and with reviewers alike, although it’s proved to be popular on streaming before. Hemsworth stars as a brilliant hacker who’s hauled out of prison to help Chinese officials (Tang Wei, Leehom Wang) discover who’s behind an attack on the computer systems of a Hong Kong nuclear plant.
Warrior arrived on Netflix on Feb. 1, with Blackhat set to follow on the 16th. These two films being added to the platform precedes both Hemsworth and Hardy starring in Netflix originals later this year. The Aussie star will appear in sci-fi Escape from Spiderhead while Hardy leads actioner Havoc. Neither project has been given a release date as yet.
See Marvel Movies on Apple TV+, Prime Video, Hulu
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