WWE legend John Cena is now also a successful actor. But his first movie, the WWE produced action flick ‘The Marine’ was not received well by critics in 2006.
But even though you can’t watch it on Netflix in the United States at the moment, 17 years later it has become a global hit on the platform.
Screen Rant reports:
One of John Cena’s many critically panned action movies, The Marine, has become a global hit on Netflix. Released in 2006, the action film follows a recently discharged marine attempting to save his kidnapped wife from a group of jewel thieves. The Marine, which was produced by WWE co-founder Vince McMahon, served as the professional wrestler’s acting debut, which was met with dismal reviews from critics, though it did launch a little-known film series consisting of multiple direct-to-video sequels.
Now, nearly two decades after its release, John Cena’s acting debut has become a global hit on Netflix. For the week of December 18-24, The Marine received 7.6 million hours viewed and 5 million total views, ranking 10th and marking its first week in Netflix’s Global Top 10.
The 2006 action film, directed by John Bonito with a screenplay by Michelle Gallagher and Alan B. McElroy, received overwhelmingly negative reviews. The consensus was that The Marine is exaggerated in every imaginable way, though critics were divided in a sense, with some feeling the film took on a “so bad it’s good” quality, and others feeling the film was just flat-out bad. The Marine wasn’t a box office success either, grossing just $22 million against its $15 million production budget.
Though Poorly Received At The Time, It Became a Franchise
Despite it’s original showing and reception, the film spawned a series of five direct-to-video sequels, all with WWE wrestlers as the lead, including Ted DiBiase Jr and Mike “The Miz” Mizanin.
Maybe this renewed global interest could breathe new life into the series.
