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For the week of March 2nd – 8th, Deepwater Horizon, the 2016 film based on the true story of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, was the No. 7 movie on Netflix in the United States. It beat out Trolls, Kpop Demon Hunters, and Joe’s College Road Trip to earn its spot on the chart. This was Deepwater Horizon‘s first week in Netflix’s top 10.
Why Deepwater Horizon Is a Netflix Hit 10 Years Later
When Deepwater Horizon hit theaters in September 2016, it earned positive reviews (it’s Certified Fresh with an 82% Rotten Tomatoes score), but that reception didn’t help it make headway at the box office. The film grossed just $121.8 million worldwide against a production budget in the range of $110-120 million, meaning it bombed in theaters. That performance is not indicative of the movie’s overall quality. Deepwater Horizon is considered a touching tribute to those who died in the real-life tragedy; director Peter Berg had the right approach in mind in that he doesn’t sensationalize the event. He keeps the focus on the everyday people aboard the rig and the lives at stake.
Deepwater Horizon is part of an unofficial “based on a true story” trilogy that Berg and star Mark Wahlberg collaborated on in the 2010s, sandwiched between Lone Survivor and Patriots Day. The two clearly enjoy working together, and a case can be made that Berg frequently gets the best out of his leading man. Wahlberg delivers one of many strong performances in Deepwater Horizon, as he’s well within his wheelhouse playing a family man who gets caught up in a perilous situation. Other members of the film’s star-studded cast, including Kurt Russell and John Malkovich, do a good job in their roles; even if some of the characters in Deepwater Horizon may come across as thin, there’s still enough there to complement the action sequences.
