All this to say, no one holds this film in notably excessive regard, or so it appears. It was the final straw in M. Night time Shyamalan’s blockbuster profession earlier than he managed to rebound with the low-budget thriller “The Visit” in 2015. For Sony, it was a trainwreck, taking in solely $251 million worldwide towards an enormous $130 million funds. There was no saving grace for the film on the time and, even when factoring in DVD gross sales, cable rights, and different ancillary income streams, the studio undoubtedly by no means recouped the funding.
The primary factor is that this film is under no circumstances a hit by anybody’s rational definition. The director, stars, studio, critics, and audiences on the time all rejected it. So it is downright fascinating that it managed to ascend the Netflix charts with little-to-no promotion. It is not as if Netflix or Sony had been boasting that “After Earth” is now streaming. Viewers merely noticed the tile when scrolling by way of their app and, en masse, opted to look at this above 1000’s of different potential titles. That is spectacular, bizarre, and moderately telling.
For one, it strongly signifies that Will Smith’s star energy is powerful with normal viewers, even within the aftermath of the “slap” at the Oscars last year. It additionally speaks volumes about the truth that viewers favor familiarity on main streaming companies, particularly with films that performed in theaters first earlier than making their strategy to streaming. Even when these films had been flops, one thing boosted their profile on the time and, indirectly, helped to depart an enduring impression on the general public consciousness. The identical usually cannot be stated for direct-to-streaming releases, that are extra right here right now, gone tomorrow conditions.
