In the hopes of launching a new blockbuster movie franchise, studios will look to adapt any kind of IP they can get their hands on. Hollywood has long mined novels and comic books for inspiration, translating those well-established narratives to a fresh medium, but a built-in story is not a requirement to receive a feature film. Case in point: 2012’s Battleship, which recruited an all-star cast and director Peter Berg to bring the classic board game to life on the big screen. Critically panned and a box office failure upon release, Battleship has since gained a loyal cult following. For proof of that, one only has to look at the streaming charts.
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According to FlixPatrol, which measures the popularity of titles across various streaming services, Battleship is currently the No. 8 movie on Prime Video. It beat out Balls Up and The Map That Leads to You to secure its spot on the chart. Battleship was a new addition to Prime Video this month, coming to the streamer on May 1st.
Why Battleship Is a Streaming Hit on Prime Video
Battleship is rather infamously one of the biggest box office bombs in history. After being hit with a 34% Rotten Tomatoes score, the movie earned $303 million worldwide. In a vacuum, that’s a substantial amount of money, but Battleship had a production budget in the range of $209-220 million. Universal ended up losing $150 million on the project, and, obviously, no sequel ever materialized. In its time, Battleship was one of the most derided movies of the year, even earning a Worst Picture nomination at the Razzies. However, in the 14 years since it debuted, opinions on the film have shifted a bit.
Granted, nobody is making the argument that Battleship is actually a misunderstood masterpiece that was ahead of its time, but it now falls under the category of favorite guilty pleasures. At its core, Battleship is a big, dumb, fun Hollywood movie that’s looking to entertain viewers with exciting action sequences. In that regard, it’s very successful at what it does, telling the story of the U.S. Navy taking part in a high-stakes confrontation with alien invaders. It takes elements of genre classics like Independence Day to create something that’s enjoyable to watch — as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into.
This is the most likely reason behind Battleship‘s recent surge in popularity on streaming. Subscribers are always checking to see the new arrivals each month so they can add certain titles to their watchlists before they’re removed. A modern cult classic like Battleship is going to generate a sizable amount of attention, meaning its viewership figures receive a boost. Even if Battleship‘s reputation hadn’t improved over the past decade plus, it still likely would have found an audience on streaming. This kind of action movie, something audiences can just put on in the background at the end of a long day, routinely fares well on streaming.
It’s also quite common for box office bombs — even those from years past — to catch on at home. General audiences are much more willing to take a chance on something that has mixed or negative reviews when all they have to do is push play in their living room. Battleship was a tough sell to moviegoers when it was playing in theaters. It came out in the immediate aftermath of peak Avengers hype in May 2012 and was an afterthought a few weeks later. Universal would have preferred if Battleship was a hit at the multiplex and on streaming, but the studio will take its victories where it can.
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