Henry Cavill Spy Movie Becomes Streaming Hit After $96 Million Box Office Disaster

Summary

• Argylle
  has become a hit on streaming after earning only $95.5 million during its theatrical run.
• The movie cost Apple $200 million and features an impressive cast, but earned poor reviews.
• Argylle
  drew criticism for its abundance of twists and overlong runtime, and its failure continues a disappointing career trend for Cavill.

Henry Cavill’s spy movie flop, Argylle, has found new success on streaming after its theatrical run. Directed by Matthew Vaughn, Argylle hit theaters earlier this year, telling the story of espionage novelist Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), who finds herself wrapped up in a globetrotting adventure after real-life events start to mirror those of her most recent novel. Despite featuring Cavill, Sam Rockwell, John Cena, Bryan Cranston, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, and others in the cast, the movie was a major box office disaster, earning only $95.5 million worldwide.

New streaming data from Reelgood reveals that, after Argylle‘s poor box office performance earlier this year, it’s become the second most popular title on streaming in the U.S. for the week of April 11 – 17. Check out the full top 10 chart below, which takes into account over 20 million individual viewing decisions:

Argylle loses out to Fallout, Prime Video’s new, critically acclaimed video game TV adaptation, but beats the likes of The Zone of Interest, Poor Things, Ripley, Shōgun, Oppenheimer, Anatomy of a Fall, Sugar, and A Gentleman in Moscow.

Argylle’s Theatrical Failure Explained

Why Matthew Vaughn’s Latest Movie Failed To Connect

The latter half of Vaughn’s career has been a bit of a mixed bag critically (his previous movie, 2021’s The King’s Man, was another miss with critics), but the Argylle reviews were particularly scathing. Critics took issue with a plot that was over-reliant on twists, ultimately resulting in a confusing and convoluted story that ends up feeling relatively hollow. At two hours and 19 minutes long, the Argylle runtime, too, was a common complaint. Even the action, normally a highlight of Vaughn’s films, isn’t as strong as his past efforts, perhaps due to the film’s PG-13 rating.

The movie’s poor performance probably dashes Vaughn’s hopes for his planned
Argylle 2



and the further expansion of the spy franchise.

These flaws ultimately earned Argylle a lackluster 33% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, the lowest of Vaughn’s directorial career (see the chart below). The audience score is higher at 72%, suggesting that general audiences tended to enjoy the film more, but this evidently didn’t result in a higher turnout at the theater. With Argylle estimated to cost Apple a whopping $200 million, the break-even point for the film could be as high as $500 million, illuminating just how much of a disappointment the blockbuster action flick was for the company.

The movie’s poor performance probably dashes Vaughn’s hopes for his planned Argylle 2 and the further expansion of the spy franchise. The Argylle ending sets up a Kingsman franchise crossover event, but this is now unlikely to occur. The film’s underperformance hasn’t, however, seemed to harm some of the director’s other projects. Vaughn has confirmed, for example, that his announced Kingsman 3 is still moving forward. While Argylle may have been a disaster in theaters, the latest streaming chart has affirmed that audiences are now finding the film on Apple TV+.

Argylle’s Failure Continues An Unfortunate Henry Cavill Trend

Can His New Movie Be A Redemption?

Cavill may have leading man charisma, but his career track record thus far has been spotty at best. He became a household name with the well-received and commercially successful Man of Steel in 2013, but his subsequent outings as Superman didn’t have the same luck. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, for example, was lambasted by critics, and both cuts of Justice League were mired in controversy. He then made what was supposed to be a triumphant return in Black Adam, but he lost the role weeks later due to a changing of the guard at the studio.

Black Adam
was a disappointment both critically and commercially.

Outside of DC, Cavill has also had mixed success. While his performance as Geralt was a highlight of the first three seasons of Netflix’s The Witcher series, he’s now departed the series. Another particular career highlight is 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout, but Tom Cruise is obviously the main draw there. Both Enola Holmes movies on Netflix were critical successes, but, again, Cavill plays a supporting role. 2018’s Night Hunter, which he does lead, was a critical and commercial failure. In terms of box office as a leading man, Cavill just hasn’t proven himself a reliable draw.

The actor’s latest movie is The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, another Guy Ritchie collaboration after The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare reviews are mostly positive, and it holds a respectable 72% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience score is especially high at 93%, but this might not be enough. Despite coming in above projections, the World War II movie’s box office performance suggests it probably won’t end up being a big theatrical hit. After Argylle, Cavill arguably needs a major theatrical success, and it doesn’t look like he’s found it yet.

Source: Reelgood