The ghost of a trilogy that butchered a winning franchise and stole its star’s lifeline is churning dollars on streaming

We indeed live in a strange world where a movie can flop harder than a fish out of water at the box office, only to swim like a champion later on. Even ones that sink the rising star of its main MVP.

The movie, in question, has risen from its box office ashes like a phoenix on Apple TV and has been stubbornly clinging to the top 10 for months, as per FlixPatrol. What is the name of this bamboozling mess that crashed and burned through the box office?

Welcome to the paradox that is Argylle, a film that seems to have nine lives — or at least, two very distinct ones.

Released in February 2024, Argylle didn’t so much debut as it staggered into theaters. It’s a spin-off of the celebrated Kingsman trilogy, which set a high bar with its blend of slick action and sharp suits in its films — Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), and The King’s Man (2021) — that redefined the spy genre. Then along comes Argylle, expected to be a trilogy and kickstart a spinoff franchise of its own. What did it do? It tripped over its fancy shoelaces with a pitiful 33% on Rotten Tomatoes and a box office haul that barely scraped together $96 million worldwide on a $200 million budget. And its IMDb isn’t much to brag about either — 5.7/10.

With a star-studded cast featuring Henry Cavill, Samuel L. Jackson, Bryan Cranston, and even pop sensation Dua Lipa, one might ask how could it possibly go wrong in the first place.

What actually went wrong with Argylle?

Critically, Argylle was a classic case of style over substance. Despite attempting to inject fresh energy into the well-worn paths of its genre, it felt like retracing the steps of its predecessors with less finesse and more fatigue. Critics lambasted its attempt at novelty, pointing out that even its CGI looked as tired as the plot, and the action sequences seemed to be borrowing from every spy movie ever made, without adding anything new to the conversation.

Part of the crash is to be blamed equally on the director, maybe, when it comes to the decline of the Kingsman franchise as a whole. His last Kingsman project before Argylle, The King’s Man, performed modestly at best. Earning $126 million on a budget hovering just under $100 million. Adding to this, the prequel has a 6.3 rating on IMDb, whereas it’s predecessor, The Golden Circle, the second film in the Kingsman franchise, has a 6.7 rating. Again, while these scores are better than Argylle’s 5.7 rating, they are not a huge leap forward. So what does this tell us about Matthew Vaughn’s direction? If anything is left to be said, it’s that Vaughn had become too comfortable with the franchise.

But it’s not just Vaughn who is to blame. Timing is everything, and February is nothing. The month is notorious for being a dumping ground for mediocre films. Historically, January and February have often been the months where studios quietly release films they are less optimistic about, hoping to recoup at least a portion of their investment without the heightened competition of the blockbuster season. It didn’t help that it had a mind-numbingly bonkers plot that was flaunted by a trailer that put Henry Cavill in the center, even though the actor barely appeared in the film for a couple of seconds.

Not only was it a disappointing addition to the actor’s resume that had been seeing disappoints before it, but it also successfully buried the fanatic fan castings of Cavill as the next James Bond — from his hair to his outfits to his acting, everything about the actor in Argylle screamed “NO” to his potential to carry a spy thriller, let alone be 007. After losing Superman and bidding farewell to The Witcher, this ended up being a big blow to his “bankable actor” status in Hollywood.

So, what’s saving Argylle now? Perhaps it’s the low-stakes game of streaming that allows viewers to gamble an evening on something less critically acclaimed, or maybe it’s just the collective curiosity of an audience wondering, “Could it really be that bad?” Whatever the reason, director Matthew Vaughn seems to have found a glimmer of hope in Argylle‘s streaming success.

“We’re doing very well on streaming. People are liking it. Nothing would make me happier than making another one. I’m getting texts saying, ‘Wow, those reviews were f—ing harsh!’ The more we can get people to watch Argylle, the more chance we make another one. I’d love to make another one, we’ve got it planned. It’ll make a good little movie. We’ll see. Never say never.”

Vaughn said in interview with Empire

It’s clear that Vaughn is eager to capitalize on Argylle‘s newfound popularity and is already thinking about the possibility of a sequel. However, before getting too excited, Vaughn might want to consider how to recover the film’s staggering $200 million budget. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see.