Sony is possibly the most consistent studio out there for failing to kickstart cinematic universes. Authors of its own destruction with flops like Morbius, one of its many failures has suddenly seen a pulse return to its withering corpse thanks to Netflix.
Despite the immensely marketable charisma vacuum of Vin Diesel, the comic book flick Bloodshot whimpered to its death in cinemas. Three years later and with the world in a very different place, it is now in a safe place to demand reappraisal by the streaming hordes of Netflix.
Appearing on Netflix and raking through the charts, Bloodshot debuted with a strong seventh spot on the top ten. Over 8.7 million hours were viewed for the film which had all but faded into the obscurity and sands of time.
Based on the Valiant Comics character of the same name, it sees Diesel play a dead soldier reanimated by the government to become a weapon of vengeance. Yes, it does sound like the most generic fake movie ever made. With just a 30 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, we’d be shocked if anyone had seen it before.
Its original release was one of the many to be hampered by the pandemic, releasing March 2020 – almost exactly the same week as governments around the world began to institute lockdowns, quarantines, and cinemas began to go very quiet. Grossing just $37 million from its budget of $45 million, it was among the doomed class of 2020 films.
Had the release conditions been slightly different, you’d have to wonder if it would’ve kicked on to a more impressive box office and subsequent franchise status. But for now, it’ll languish in the history books as a pandemic-era flop.
Bloodshot is available to stream on Netflix.
