M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth Was Initially A Flop, But Has New Life On Netflix

A notoriously huge bomb from one of cinema's biggest stars has curiously found new life on Netflix a full decade after the film initially failed in theaters. The movie in question is 2013's "After Earth," which starred Will Smith and, his son Jaden Smith, and was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, of "The Sixth Sense" and "Split" fame,  The results were nothing shy of disastrous for Sony Pictures at the time. And yet, the world of streaming has curiously given the movie new life.

The expensive sci-fi flick recently dropped on Netflix and rapidly made its way into the streamer's top ten daily charts. Stacked amongst all of the pricey, flashy, Netflix original films, a critically-panned flop is being watched more than almost anything else available on the service right now. It's a movie that even Smith, who's had far more successes than failures in his career, acknowledges as a critical misstep. In his autobiography "Will" (via People), the actor wrote a bit about the experience.

"'After Earth' was an abysmal box office and critical failure. And what was worse was that Jaden took the hit. Fans and the press were absolutely vicious; they said and printed things about Jaden that I refuse to repeat. Jaden had faithfully done everything that I'd instructed him to do, and I had coached him into the worst public mauling he'd ever experienced. We never discussed it, but I know he felt betrayed. He felt misled, and he lost his trust in my leadership."

All this to say, nobody holds this movie in particularly high regard, or so it seems. It was the last straw in M. Night Shyamalan's blockbuster career before he managed to rebound with the low-budget thriller "The Visit" in 2015. For Sony, it was a trainwreck, taking in only $251 million worldwide against a massive $130 million budget. There was no saving grace for the movie at the time and, even when factoring in DVD sales, cable rights, and other ancillary revenue streams, the studio undoubtedly never recouped the investment.

The main thing is that this movie is in no way a success by anyone's rational definition. The director, stars, studio, critics, and audiences at the time all rejected it. So it's downright fascinating that it managed to ascend the Netflix charts with little-to-no promotion. It's not as though Netflix or Sony were boasting that "After Earth" is now streaming. Viewers simply saw the tile when scrolling through their app and, en masse, opted to watch this above thousands of other possible titles. That's impressive, weird, and rather telling.

For one, it strongly indicates that Will Smith's star power is strong with general viewers, even in the aftermath of the "slap" at the Oscars last year. It also speaks volumes about the fact that viewers favor familiarity on major streaming services, especially with movies that played in theaters first before making their way to streaming. Even when those movies were flops, something boosted their profile at the time and, in some way, helped to leave a lasting impression on the public consciousness. The same often can't be said for direct-to-streaming releases, which are more here today, gone tomorrow situations.

There are more than a few reasons that "After Earth" failed to find success at the box office in its day, though much of it boils down to the general consensus that Shyamalan delivered a bad movie. Plain and simple. But that hasn't stopped it from finding a very large audience in 2023, which is fascinating all on its own. Even more fascinating, though, is that this isn't an isolated incident. Virtually ever since Netflix began sharing its top ten performers for viewers, previously unsuccessful or forgotten movies have managed to dominate the charts.

Just a couple of months ago, both animated DreamWorks flop "Turbo" and massive sci-fi financial disaster "R.I.P.D." were solidly in Netflix's top ten most-watched movies. Yes, both of these movies starred Ryan Reynolds, which undoubtedly boosted their profile in the here and now once they hit the service. Another recent example was 2011's prequel to "The Thing" which, to say the very least, is not as beloved as John Carpenter's '80s classic. And yet, it blew up on Netflix merely by being available for subscribers to watch with the click of a button.

This all appears to speak volumes about Netflix's business strategy in investing in expensive, original movies, as well as the industry as a whole. Warner Bros. and other studios are pulling back on streaming releases in favor of going back to theatrical first, while Netflix remains steadfast in its stance that theatrical just isn't part of the business model. But as more of these former theatrical misfires continue to climb the Netflix charts, that might be a position they should reconsider.