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An acclaimed box office-topping action epic that still bombed battles for streaming supremacy

Topping the box office and winning rave reviews sometimes isn't even enough.

the woman king
via Sony

You’d have thought that debuting at the top of the box office and securing a reputation as one of the most acclaimed releases of the year would paint a picture of an overwhelming success, but this year’s The Woman King still ended up struggling to turn a profit during its theatrical run.

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In fairness, an unflinchingly violent R-rated historical epic that runs for 135 minutes was always facing an uphill battle to succeed when the effects of the pandemic were still impacting virtually any movie that wasn’t a superhero blockbuster or a franchise-driven title, but The Old Guard director Gina Prince-Blythewood’s riveting tale nonetheless managed to open above expectations to snag $19 million across its first three days in theaters.

the woman king
Image via Sony

On Rotten Tomatoes, The Woman King holds incredible scores, with even a Certified Fresh critical rating of 94 percent being dwarfed by a near-perfect 99 percent user average from upwards of 5000 votes. Despite roaring into battle on both the critical and commercial front, though, the $50 million feature only managed to earn $94 million globally before heading on-demand.

That being said, The Woman King has been absolutely slaying the competition across multiple platforms, so it’s destined to wind up in the black eventually. As per FlixPatrol, the impeccably-acted and viciously-staged war story is the seventh most-watched title on Amazon and Vudu, as well as third top-viewed feature among iTunes customers in the United States, so it’s more than capable of hooking at-home crowds to a similar (if not greater) extent than it did on the big screen.