The number of franchises to have overstayed their welcome is innumerable at this point, but one thing the never-ending Sniper saga has working in its favor is that a lot of people probably have no idea it isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it’s not even close.
When Tom Berenger first wielded his high-powered rifle in the 1993 original that did a modest turn at the box office and was mildly received by both critics and action junkies alike, not a single soul would have guessed that just last year Sniper: Rogue Mission would arrive on VOD as its ninth mainline installment.
Not only that, but there’s another one already in active development that’s going to see the brand officially go full-blown Fast & Furious and make it to double digits. If that isn’t head-scratching enough, eighth chapter Assassin’s End has debuted as one of Netflix’s biggest hits since being made available to stream, reinforcing the notion that bullets and octane are all it takes to make a splash.
Per FlixPatrol, the mind-numbing tale of a sniper being framed for the murder of a foreign dignitary – replete with Berenger in a supporting role as Tom Beckett – has seized the number one spot in 19 countries around the world, enshrining Assassin’s End as the fifth top-viewed feature among subscribers around the world.
It ticks all the boxes you’d expect from a bargain basement continuation of a saga that’s been irrelevant to pop culture for decade, but for reasons we can’t quite seem to wrap our heads around, those who shell out their monthly fees to Netflix can’t seem to get enough.
Published: Jul 3, 2023 03:02 am