Two Decades Later, the $162 Million Sci-Fi Flop Hollywood Blamed on Scarlett Johansson Is a Thanksgiving Streaming Sensation

The Island is having one of those weird second lives movies dream about. Back in 2005, Michael Bay aimed for a glossy, starry summer sci-fi event with Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. It belly-flopped. Cut to Thanksgiving 2025, and it is suddenly climbing Netflix charts. So what happened then, and why is it clicking now?

The quick refresher: what the movie actually is

McGregor plays Lincoln Six Echo and Johansson is Jordan Two Delta, two residents of a spotless, tightly controlled facility where everyone believes the outside world is toxic. The big hope is a lottery that sends winners to a place called 'The Island' — the last safe zone on Earth. Lincoln pokes at the edges of that story, uncovers what is really going on, and then the movie slams the gas.

Theatrical faceplant: how a sure thing turned into a miss

The rollout was rough from the jump. The Island opened at number four with $12.4 million, and then dropped 51.9% in weekend two to under $6 million. Cue finger-pointing. Michael Bay did not sugarcoat it:

'It is a debacle, it is my worst opening weekend ever.'

Marketing took a lot of heat. Bay complained the posters were misleading and leaned on Johansson in a way that made her look like a 'p*rn star' instead of selling the actual sci-fi hook. Johansson has since been candid about how her early-20s career was packaged during that era, telling the Table for Two podcast:

'I kind of became like an ingenue... young girls like that are really objectified, and that is just a fact... I really got stuck.'

'I was kind of being groomed, in a way, to be this... bombshell type of actor.'

That mismatch mattered. By overplaying her s*x appeal, the campaign alienated the audience that might have shown up for a cool cloning thriller while also confusing guys expecting a different kind of movie. The result: nobody knew what it was. And the objectification chatter overwhelmed the film’s more interesting ideas about cloning ethics and human commodification.

Even Bay sounded torn about the blame game, telling the LA Times:

'It could be the subject matter, the lack of stars. I am not blaming the whole thing on the marketers.'

By the numbers

• Title: The Island (2005)
• Director: Michael Bay
• Produced by: DreamWorks Pictures; Parkes/MacDonald Productions (Warner Bros. handled international distribution)
• Opening weekend: $12.4 million (debuted at #4)
• Second weekend: down 51.9% to under $6 million
• Worldwide box office: $162.9 million
• Rotten Tomatoes: 39% critics, 63% audience
• IMDb: 6.8/10
• Letterboxd: 2.9/5.0
• Studio fallout: During Universal’s talks to buy DreamWorks, the offer reportedly dropped from $1.5B to $1.4B — a $100M haircut that the New York Times tied directly to this movie’s performance

What the critics said at the time

Reviews were lukewarm at best. Roger Ebert thought it basically functioned as two different films smashed together and missed a chance at real sci-fi substance. Variety’s Justin Chang called it sensory overload. And Salon’s Stephanie Zacharek argued that whenever the movie edged toward something thought-provoking, Bay hit it with another chase, crash, or shootout. None of that helped word of mouth.

The marketing mea culpa

DreamWorks’ marketing chief Terry Press was blunt about the misfire, telling Variety:

'We made a date, not a movie.'

Translation: they locked a summer slot and sold a vibe instead of actually selling the story people might have bought.

The Netflix revival: timing, nostalgia, and a very specific sci-fi vibe

Fast forward to Thanksgiving 2025: The Island is suddenly one of Netflix’s hottest titles (per FlixPatrol), even climbing to eighth on the service’s most-watched list. That is not just a one-off fluke — it fits a broader rediscovery of early-2000s dystopian sci-fi with clean lines and creepy corporate order: think Minority Report (2002), Equilibrium (2002), and V for Vendetta (2005).

Those movies were not about scorched wastelands; they were about spotless labs, matching white uniforms, and a surveillance-friendly society that looks perfect until you notice the moral rot. Post-9/11 anxieties about trading freedom for security, corporate control, biotech ethics — that stew feels even more relevant now, which makes The Island hit differently than it did in 2005.

Even astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has called it one of his favorite sci-fi films (via MovieWeb). And Bay has long argued it played better with audiences than its reputation suggests, especially overseas:

'The reaction to The Island, it worked really well overseas... I knew it would never be a smash, because it is not that type of movie, and I continually have so many people come up to me and say, "God that movie is so good." But no one knew about it in America.'

On that front, he was right and wrong. It did not smash in theaters, but it is getting a second wind on streaming — and pulling 2000s-era dystopia along with it.

So... was it underrated all along?

Here is where I land: the theatrical rollout buried the good stuff under the wrong pitch. The cloning-and-commerce angle is interesting; the chase-heavy execution is very Bay; the package never quite matched the sell. But in 2025, with algorithms feeding people exactly the flavor of sci-fi they want, it finally found its lane. That does not make it a secret masterpiece, but it does make it a solid, very watchable time capsule of its moment.

The Island is streaming now on Netflix. What do you think — belatedly good, or is the algorithm doing what the 2005 ad campaign could not?