A Surprise Sci-Fi Hit From 2017 Just Made Its Way to Paramount+

There’s no shortage of science fiction hits on streaming and for good reason. It’s a wildly popular genre that encompasses all kinds of stories, including those centered around climate-based science and disaster. Now, a surprising 2017 hit that falls into that exact category of sci-fi just made its way to Paramount+ on November 1st, giving fans a whole new opportunity to watch the action-packed end of the world as we know it.

While Gerard Butler has firmly established himself as a master of the disaster film thanks to movies like Greenland (which is getting a sequel out in theaters in January), it’s Geostorm that is making its way to Paramount+ this month. Directed and co-written Dean Devlin, Geostorm stars Butler as satellite designer Jake Lawson who finds himself in a race against the clock to save the planet when a network of satellites that control the climate start to wildly malfunction, creating major issues across the globe and threatening to start a devastating “Geostorm”. The film also stars Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, and Andy Garcia.

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Geostorm Didn’t Wow Critics, But Has Been a Solid Streaming Winner

In a sense, it’s a little inaccurate to call Geostorm a “hit”. The film brought in $221.6 million at the box office against a production budget of $120 million, but the film performed dismally with critics. Audience reactions were more favorable and that’s something that has continued to be true on streaming. Geostorm has previously been available on HBO Max and Netflix and cracked the top 10 for both platforms — just last month, it ranked as the second most popular movie on HBO Max at one point. The film’s consistent streaming success is a testament to the idea that sometimes movies just end up doing better on streaming.

It also doesn’t hurt that Butler has become much more of a disaster film fixture since Geostorm’s release. Greenland was released just three years after Geostorm and performed much better with critics who felt like Greenland was a much more grounded movie and that Butler’s performance was solid. That film did well enough that a sequel was soon announced — Greenland: Migration.

While Geostorm isn’t likely to get a sequel anytime soon, Butler’s increased appeal in the sci-fi survival thriller genre has definitely helped bring more people to the film on streaming and now with it on Paramount+ it will be interesting to see if the same kind of success the film found on previous streamers will repeat itself here.

Geostorm is now streaming on Paramount+.

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