Kevin Costner's Sports Drama Flop Is Getting A Second Life On Netflix

If you grew up on Ivan Reitman's "Ghostbusters," have fond memories of the director's "Kindergarten Cop," or were swept up in the Reitman-produced "Space Jam"-mania in the '90s, you might not be aware of the last movie he called the shots on. Reitman, who passed away in 2022, directed his final film in 2014 with "Draft Day," a sports drama starring Kevin Costner as fictional Cleveland Browns general manager Sonny Weaver Jr.

The film sees Weaver prepping for the titular event while dealing with some personal events that are pretty big in their own right. Not only does his own boss, team owner Anthony Molina (Frank Langella), want to fire him, but his somewhat secret girlfriend Ali Parker (Jennifer Garner) is also pregnant. Amidst all this, Sonny takes a deal offered by the Seattle Seahawks that gives him and the Browns the first-round draft pick. Did he make the right choice? Well, that's very much where a lot of the tension comes from, with Sonny fretting over his selection as the draft fast approaches.

"Draft Day" wasn't quite the critical triumph Reitman was surely hoping his final film might be, but it fared reasonably well with reviewers. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for consumers, as "Draft Day" proved to be a commercial flop upon reaching theaters on April 11, 2014. But I'm sure Reitman would be at least a little encouraged to hear that a decade later, streaming audiences have rediscovered his last movie and have sent "Draft Day" into the Netflix charts.

"Draft Day" might not have garnered a stellar critical response, but it actually made it to number six on /Film's ranking of Ivan Reitman's movies, with Scott Thomas writing, "The script is unquestionably zippy. Every performer brings their A-game [...] Then there's Ivan Reitman, who sees fit to add in-camera tricks and fluid movements which echo the hyper-stylization of sports broadcast." The film has certainly become somewhat of a cult favorite for National Football League fans, too. So, despite having sent Cameron Diaz's abysmal "Back in Action" to the top of the Netflix charts in recent months, maybe Netflixers are on to something with this one.

According to FlixPatrol, a site that tracks viewership data across all streaming and digital platforms, "Draft Day" is already doing well on Netflix following its April 1, 2025 debut on the streamer. As of April 2, the film is number nine on the most-watched films chart in the United States. That's a pretty good start for "Draft Day," especially since so few people saw it when it first came out in theaters. We'll have to see where things go from here, but there's every chance Kevin Costner's forgotten sports drama could take the top spot, considering the other movies making the top 10 stateside right now.

When it was released in theaters, "Draft Day" made $29.8 million on a budget of $25 million, securing its status as a bonafide flop. It's not the best way for a director of Ivan Reitman's stature to go out, but it's not as if the film was a complete dud. Critics weren't bowled over by the film but it does have a 60% Rotten Tomatoes score, which certainly isn't the worse rating we've seen for a film making the Netflix charts. ("The Electric State" was Netflix's most expensive movie ever and recently hit number one with a truly awful 16% RT score.) Critics weren't too impressed with the script, but Costner and his co-stars' performances did receive praise, and this is clearly one of those movies that works best if you're willing to overlook the logical inconsistencies and embrace what critic David Jenkins once called the "Air punch-inducing drama."

As such, Reitman's movie is surely in with a chance of rising through the rankings, and may even be able to take the number one position, given the current chart-topper, Netflix original "The Life List," is a 47-percenter. That said, it's not as if you need good critic scores to be a Netflix hit, as successive duds continue to rise to the top even as top-quality projects such as the brilliant "Adolescence" also triumph. Still, "Draft Day" will need to fight off some pretty tough competition; it's currently being chased up the Netflix charts by A24's much-celebrated 2023 horror film, "Talk to Me."