It’s all well and good for an actor to set their sights on becoming an action star, but you arguably can’t say that you’ve made it until you get a multi-film franchise to call your own.
Almost every big name in the business has appeared in at least a couple of explosive blockbusters, but to become a genuinely established presence in the genre you need an entire series. Think Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator, Jason Statham’s Transporter, Liam Neeson’s Taken, Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo, Vin Diesel’s Fast & Furious, Mel Gibson’s Mad Max, and the list goes on and on and on.
Gerard Butler broke out as the hulking centrepiece of Zack Snyder’s 300, and he’s since become one of Hollywood’s go-to guys when it comes to B-tier action thrillers, but it was the success of Olympus Has Fallen that finally brought him that elusive property he could keep revisiting. Sequel London Has Fallen came shortly afterwards, and fourth installment Night Has Fallen is in development, but its third entry Angel Has Fallen that’s currently blowing up on Netflix.
Mike Banning (Butler) once again finds himself caught up in a presidential conspiracy, and this time his gravel-throated father gets roped into the equation, played with scenery chewing relish by Nick Nolte. It might have been the lowest-grossing outing to date after topping out with a box office haul of $147 million, but it was also the cheapest to produce, so it was still a hugely profitable exercise. Of course, this isn’t the first time Angel Has Fallen has dominated the streaming charts, and based on Gerard Butler‘s continued popularity among fans, it won’t be the last, either.
