Gerard Butler's Underrated 2018 Crime Thriller Lands On Max's Top Charts Ahead Of Its Sequel

The holidays are upon us, so you'd expect the major streaming services' top titles to be yuletide classics that the whole family can enjoy. This is hilariously not the case, however, and it's either a sign of broadening tastes or coarsening sensibilities.

I'm not going to take issue with viewers getting into the Christmas spirit by watching such violent delights as "Die Hard," "Silent Night, Deadly Night" or any of the Shane Black classics set around the holiday. I might just plop down and run a marathon of "Lethal Weapon," "The Last Boy Scout," "The Long Kiss Goodnight," and "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" myself on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is when you bust out "It's a Wonderful Life" (a remarkably dark movie itself) or any one of the adaptations of "A Christmas Carol."

But if FlixPatrol's report on the most popular movies currently streaming on Max is to be believed, most people are prioritizing some macabre and/or bloody contemporary movies this December. As was also the case last week, the box office flop "Joker: Folie à Deux" is atop Max's most-watched list at the moment, with "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" slotted in at second. Surely, something like "Elf" or "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" are close behind them, right? Nope. Number three on the list is a scuzzy, bullet-whizzing B-movie with an impressive body count.

This Christmas, spike your egg nog with four fingers of bourbon and treat yourself to Christian Gaudegast's twisty heist thriller "Den of Thieves." Starring Gerard Butler as Big Nick O'Brien, a hard-charging drunk of a cop who's got a hankering for blood-splattered donuts, this film has gone from being a modest box office hit (it grossed $80 million worldwide on a budget of $30 million) to a full-fledged dad-movie classic. It's a punch-drunk riff on "Heat" with an assortment of chest-puffing tough-guy performances from Pablo Schreiber, O'Shea Jackson Jr., and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson." It comes on bloody and boneheaded, but don't let that fool you; Gaudegast's narrative is surprisingly clever, peaking with an ending that you might not see coming.

"Den of Thieves" rides-or-dies with a hard-bitten philosophy that is the antithesis of "Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men." So, why is this 2018 action flick suddenly so popular on Max? Why, that's because the sequel, "Den of Thieves: Pantera," is set to come smashing into theaters on January 10, 2025. And, really, who would you rather spend time with this Christmas: your family or Gerard Butler? So, if the world truly is going to hell, freshen up that nog and let's go there with Big Nick.