It says a lot about the viewing habits of streaming subscribers that they’ll happily revisit a movie that holds a well-earned and entirely justified reputation as one of the worst blockbusters to ever come out of Hollywood. Just when you thought it was safe to fire up Netflix, M. Night Shyamalan’s After Earth has returned to the charts.
As per FlixPatrol, the embarrassment of epic proportions has been hoovering up Top 10 positions all across Europe, which leaves us wondering why the hell people have decided to hit play. Where to even begin when it comes to the $130 million sci-fi, which left more than one career in pieces, and has endured for close to a decade as a punchline.
Prior to smacking Chris Rock at the Oscars, signing on to develop the story, refit it into a big budget genre film, and play a supporting role to his son Jaden comfortably ranked as the worst decision Will Smith had ever made, while Shyamalan’s reputation lay in tatters as his standing in the industry continued to nosedive in the aftermath of the film being torn apart by critics.
Plans for an ambitious multimedia franchise were shelved, nepotism accusations run rampant, folks picked apart the alleged allusions to Scientology, and that’s without mentioning the fact After Earth was rounded on because it flat-out sucked as an irredeemably terrible work of cinema.
An 11 percent Rotten Tomatoes score couldn’t have gone to a more deserving candidate, which has only left us scratching our heads at the fact the colossal dud is somehow enticing a brand new crowd.
