A surprising Marvel Cinematic Universe flop has managed to make a comeback on streaming. The long-running franchise is mostly defined by its theatrical successes, and while there are plenty to count, there has also been the occasional flop. Surprisingly, however, this flop has proven to be a hit with audiences – just outside of the traditional theatrical route.
It looks like this film has managed to make an unexpected comeback after being added to the Disney Plus streaming service. Disney’s streaming platform is recognized for containing most Marvel Cinematic Universe offerings, as long as licenses and rights issues don’t stand in the way, and they make it easy for fans to keep up with a chronological timeline.
For whatever reason, this makes the occasional release easier to view at home than theaters, especially if it didn’t succeed with word-of-mouth. Instead, the film finds a second life due to word-of-mouth on streaming, and that seems to be the case with this particular flop. The title did receive mixed-to-positive reviews, but it seems like it wasn’t enough, and now it’s having an unexpected comeback by ranking on the streaming platform’s number 2 spot just behind Lilo & Stitch.
This film is none other than Thunderbolts, often retitled The New Avengers, which was a divisive endeavor for Marvel and one that set up several major storylines including The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Avengers: Doomsday. With such an instrumental place in the MCU, it’s no surprise this box office flop is doing numbers on streaming, but the studio will no doubt be scratching their heads as to why it didn’t succeed on the big screen.
Marvel Studios, much like its parent company, has been trying to make reassess its mixed box office and critical results, and Thunderbolts is unfortunately one film that only adds to the calculations. Hopefully we’ll see the studio succeed in the future, however, especially with several high-profile projects on the way.
For those who want to revisit the film or, if you haven’t watched it already, view it for the first time – Thunderbolts is now streaming on Disney Plus. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates regarding Disney Plus and the latest streaming trends as we have them.