Will Smith’s reign at the top of the Max charts has led to complete and utter chaos on streaming

When we last checked in on the Max streaming battleground, Bad Boys: Ride or Die had just established its newfound police state within the ranks of the Top 10, at once crumbling the factions that defined the past and simultaneously planting the seeds for those of the future.

But the thing is, you reap what you sow, and in sowing everything, the Max charts are reaping a diverse lineup that plays by no pattern of genre, prestige, or relevancy. It’s at once textbook cinematic chowder on the small screen.

Per FlixPatrol, the charts see Bad Boys Ride or Die retain its place atop the Max rankings, finding wickedly appropriate competition in a second-place To Catch a Killer — a 2023 crime thriller in which beat cop Eleanor Falco (Shailene Woodley) is recruited by the FBI to take down a serial killer. Indeed, whoever wins this fight, Max’s monarchy will be occupied by law enforcement. The lack of common ground between the rest of the charting films was likely manufactured by these two – how can you bring down a faux two-party system without a cause?

Out of Darkness shoring up third place is no great help, either. Not only is the 2022 Andrew Cumming-directed thriller a strong piece of storytelling, but it’s also a well-oiled horror film, and there’s a special breed of reverence reserved for great genre films that are also simply great films. Why would Out of Darkness, then, concern itself with the rest of the peasants? It has a place on the podium, after all.

And “peasants” certainly is the best descriptor for the mid-section of the charts. In fifth place we have the uninspired Garfield Movie, a former ally of the now-departed The Watchers who now has no purpose now that its box office rival Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has also dropped out of the top ten. Sixth place is home to the the pungent cashgrab that was Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

Elsewhere, fourth and seventh place belong to Grown Ups and Freud’s Last Session, a pair of antiheroes that remain unattached to any clear faction at the time of writing. The thoroughly detestable Grown Ups is saved by the fact that Adam Sandler more-or-less made this movie for the sake of giving his loved ones some work, while the flimsy Freud’s Last Session treads water thanks to the timelessly talented Anthony Hopkins in the leading role.

And at the bottom of the charts, an eighth-place The Batman — newly knighted as the leader of the streaming heroes following Furiosa‘s exit — begins rallying its troops. Joining it is a ninth-place Beetlejuice, who was instrumental in fighting off Madame Web for what was hopefully the final time.

The streaming vets have also welcomed 10th-place About Time, whose quirky genre combo of sci-fi and rom-com has earned it a place among the heroes’ ranks, even if its inconsistent time travel rules might prove hazardous to the heroes’ image.

Such are the risks The Batman must take as the new leader of a budding sect of champions. Time is of the essence, after all, who’s to say, for instance, that Grown Ups and Freud’s Last Session couldn’t be tempted over to the new-age dark side? Whatever the case, the battle rages on.