A Gerard Butler action movie from five years ago remains overlooked and underrated, but it has become a streaming hit on Netflix. One thing that streaming has done for many movies is help offer an alternative to the old video rental stores, where people could discover old hits they missed by seeing the box on the shelves, giving a box office flop a new chance at life. In the old days, this helped movies like John Carpenter’s The Thing become massive cult favorites once they hit video. Netflix offers something similar, where a movie can slip by everyone’s radar when it is in theaters, but then end up becoming a hit years later on streaming.
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In 2021, Gerard Butler starred in the neo-noir action thriller Copshop, and that movie is currently sitting in third place on the Netflix most-watched movies ranking. This is perfect timing, too, since Copshop director Joe Carnahan is back in the public eye with his Netflix original action thriller The Rip, which was released on the streaming service in January. Copship was his last major release before a four-year break from directing.
Copshop stars as a professional hitman named Bob Viddick, while Frank Grillo is a con artist named Teddy Murretto, and Alexis Louder is a rookie police officer named Val Young. The movie follows a war between the con man, who got himself arrested on purpose to get away from the hitman, and the hitman, who got himself arrested to get into the same jail as his target. Stuck in the middle is the young officer, who has to decide if she will trust either man when a ruthless hitman named Lamb (Toby Huss) shows up.
While Copshop was released in 2021, critics praised the film with an 82% Rotten Tomatoes score, but it ended up as a box office bomb. The movie only made $6.8 million on a $43.5 miullion budget and marked the end of Carnahan’s directing opportunities for four years. Netflix has changed all that, and the critics’ appreciation is now being matched by streaming audiences.
Netflix Has Plenty of Movies to Catch Up On
It is an interesting time for Netflix because there are a few older movies getting a revival on the streaming service. After Copshop, the fifth movie on the Netflix Top 10 is the Ben Stiller blockbuster comedy Night at the Museum, and the classic beloved disaster movie Independence Day sits at number seven. The Jason Statham movie Homefront is another film that was mostly forgotten until Netflix acquired it for streaming this month, and it has ranked in the Top 10 since it dropped on the service.
Films like Night at the Museum and Independence Day will always get big numbers when they arrive on new streaming services because they are beloved older movies that people have nostalgic memories of. However, the best movies to find success thanks to Netflix are the lesser-known titles like Copshop and Homefront. Both movies have recognizable stars like Gerard Butler and Jason Statham, and have action-packed stories that are a perfect fit for people looking for something new to stream. Copshop is more popular now, thanks to Netflix, than it was when it was released in theaters five years ago.
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