A forgotten sci-fi movie is dominating Netflix today, as Netflix users around the globe are lapping up oft-overlooked alien invasion flick The 5th Wave. The film, starring Chloe Grace Moretz, is currently ranked as the tenth most popular title on the streaming giant’s global chart, as per FlixPatrol.
Based on the popular YA book series of the same name by Rick Yancey, 2016’s The 5th Wave sees Moretz as teenager Cassie Sullivan, who must try to survive in a world devastated by the waves of an alien invasion that have already decimated the population and knocked mankind back to the Stone Age. Nick Robinson (Jurassic World) also features as Ben, Cassie’s love interest, as does Ron Livingston (The Conjuring) as her dad and Liev Schreiber as the villainous Colonel Vosch.
Let’s not beat around the bush. The 5th Wave has been forgotten in the years since its release as it was a huge flop for Sony, who were clearly hoping to have a Hunger Game-type hit on their hands. On the back of a mid-level budget that ranged from $38-54 million, the film made only $109.9 million at the global box office. Combined with that, it was faced with harsh reviews and on Rotten Tomatoes, it sports an embarrassingly low score of just 15%.
“With unimpressive effects and plot points seemingly pieced together from previous dystopian YA sci-fi films, The 5th Wave ends up feeling like more of a limp, derivative wriggle,” is how RT’s Critics Consensus scathingly puts it. But, as we’ve seen many times before, what sunk in theaters often enjoys renewed success on Netflix as folks are less demanding with their time when they’re on their own couch. And in this case, it seems subscribers are happy to give over a couple of hours to The 5th Wave. Whether they end up enjoying it or not, though, is another question entirely.
