Chris Pratt’s Overlooked Western Rides to Unexpected Success on Netflix
Chris Pratt’s gunslinging western The Magnificent Seven is riding high on Netflix, defying its lackluster box office debut to become a surprise streaming sensation.
So, here’s a surprise for you: Chris Pratt’s big cowboy flick from a few years back—the one everyone mostly ignored in theaters? Yeah, it’s suddenly blowing up on Netflix. That’s right, The Magnificent Seven (the 2016 version, not your grandpa’s favorite) has been digging its own gold mine, just in streaming clicks instead of at the box office.
From Box Office Shrug to Streaming Gold
When The Magnificent Seven rode into theaters back in 2016, the reception was… let’s say, kind of “meh.” It wasn’t a trainwreck financially—pulled in $162.3 million worldwide on a $90 million budget (not a blockbuster payday, not exactly a bomb). But critics and audiences kind of nodded politely and moved on. Rotten Tomatoes has it sitting at 64% with critics and a slightly warmer 71% from viewers. Over on Metacritic, it’s rocking a pretty average 54 from critics, with users being a bit kinder at 6.5 out of 10.
Suddenly, a Breakout Hit (On Your Couch)
Fast forward to 2026 (yes, somehow we’re all still talking about this movie), and The Magnificent Seven has shot up into Netflix’s Top 10 movies. If you’re keeping score thanks to FlixPatrol’s chart for January 19th, it's sitting pretty at #7, even outpacing a few big names. Just to put it in perspective:
- #7: The Magnificent Seven (154 points)
- #8: One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 (151 points)
- #9: The Man in the Iron Mask (138 points)
- #10: Madagascar (124 points)
So, while Chris Pratt and friends haven’t quite dethroned blockbusters like The Rip (#1, 925 points) or People We Meet on Vacation (#2, 728 points), they’ve carved out a spot ahead of some notable competition. There are a few more titles out in front—KPop Demon Hunters, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Accepted, and Freelance—but still, #7 for a not-so-fresh western reboot is nothing to sneeze at.
The Cast and Crew Rodeo
If you missed it back in the day, here's the setup: The Magnificent Seven is a remake of John Sturges’s 1960 western (itself a spin on Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 samurai epic Seven Samurai). This version assembles an all-star posse:
Chris Pratt, Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Byung-hun, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Haley Bennett, and Peter Sarsgaard are all on board. That’s a lot of talent in one dusty town.
Antoine Fuqua, who already proved he knows his way around action thrillers (Olympus Has Fallen, Southpaw), directs, with Nick Pizzolatto (True Detective) and Richard Wenk handling the script.
A Quick Plot Rundown
Story-wise, it’s old-school: a tiny Western town (Rose Creek) is being crushed by a greedy robber baron who’s got his eyes on the local gold mine. When things get dire, a young widow tracks down seven rough-and-tumble gunslingers—each with their quirks and checkered pasts—to stand up for the little guy. Classic.
Sometimes Streaming Gives Movies a Second Life
Bottom line? The Magnificent Seven might not have set the world on fire when it hit the big screen, but it’s doing just fine now that it’s found a new crowd on Netflix. Something about watching a bunch of actors you like shoot it out in the Old West just goes down easier on the couch, I guess.