Michael Douglas’ 2006 Political Action Film with 34% RT Becomes a Hit on Netflix

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Posted 2 hours ago by inuno.ai

The ongoing conversation between theaters vs. streaming has many good arguments on each side. However, streaming services are also a way for films that haven’t performed well in theaters to get a new chance for success.

Michael Douglas‘ 2006 political action film is one of them. The two-time Academy Award winner (for 1987’s Wall Street and a shared award for 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) starred in Clark Johnson’s The Sentinel, and the film was not a big hit with the critics or the audience. Almost two decades later, The Sentinel found success on Netflix, debuting at No. 2 on the global charts with 7.9 million views, the equivalent of 14.2 million hours viewed.

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The Sentinel entered the charts in 80 counties and became the no. 1 movie in four of them in its first week on the platform. The political action film is not available for streaming to U.S. subscribers, but it’s available to watch on Prime Video.

The political action thriller comes from actor and director Clark Johnson, known for roles in Night Heat, The Wire, and Homicide: Life on the Street. He also directed 2003’s S.W.A.T., 2019’s Juanita, and 2020’s Percy. It also featured a series of other famous names aside from Douglas, including 24‘s Kiefer Sutherland, Desperate Housewives‘ Eva Longoria, and L.A. Confidential‘s Kim Basinger.

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The Sentinel follows a veteran Secret Service agent, Douglas’ Peter Garrison, who is suspected of treason after someone attempts to kill the president, which reveals that someone in the Secret Service is supplying information to the assassins. While on the run, he is also trying to stop a second assassination attempt while also clearing his name.

The Sentinel Was a Major Box Office Flop

The Sentinel‘s newfound success on Netflix is exciting because it didn’t get a good reception when it premiered in 2006. The film has poor ratings from both critics and the audience on Rotten Tomatoes. The critics gave it a “rotten” 34% score out of 131 reviews, with the audience sharing a similar opinion, with an approval rating of only 41% on the Popcornmeter. Despite the poor reviews, the film gathered millions of views in its first week on the streaming service, an encouraging number for a film that flopped when it premiered.

The movie also flopped at the box office, considering the poor reception. In a year when Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was the only film to cross the billion-dollar mark, The Sentinel barely covered its budget. The film had a production budget of $60 million, ending its run with $78 million worldwide (via The Numbers). It also added $18.1 million from DVD sales, but it still wasn’t enough to make a profit.

The Sentinel is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.

Source: Netflix