Gerard Butler’s Overlooked War Thriller Officially Returns as a Streaming Sleeper Hit

The year 2026 has not been a strong start for Gerard Butler, who starred in one of January’s biggest box office bombs, Greenland 2: Migration. Lionsgate chose to evolve the Greenland franchise from a more classic disaster thriller into a full-on sci-fi epic with the sequel, which pushed the film’s budget to around $90 million. Despite the combined star power of Butler and Morena Baccarin, best known for the Deadpool movies and for starring in Sheriff Country, it failed to earn back even half of that at the box office. Butler has also spent this year filming the sequel to his highest-grossing movie ever, How to Train Your Dragon. The live-action sequel arrives in theaters next year on June 11 and brings Cate Blanchett back as Valka.

With Greenland 2: Migration and Den of Thieves 2: Pantera among his recent releases, Butler has had several box office misfires in recent years, prompting some to question his standing as an action star. He has had plenty of hits and misses over the years, but one of his most controversial films, which never gained much traction at the box office, is finally getting its due on streaming. In 2011, Butler starred opposite Michelle Monaghan in Machine Gun Preacher, which was named an Official Selection at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. Machine Gun Preacher never gained much momentum in theaters, grossing just $3 million over its entire theatrical run.

How Can You Watch ‘Machine Gun Preacher’ on Streaming?

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Not only is Machine Gun Preacher streaming on Paramount Plus right now, but the film has also been in the top 10 for the better part of the last week. It is also streaming for free on Pluto TV. The easiest way to describe Machine Gun Preacher to someone who has never seen it is that it is like Taken (starring Liam Neeson) meets Blood Diamond (starring Leonardo DiCaprio). The official synopsis for the film, which earned scores of 28% from critics and 62% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, reads as follows:

“Sam Childers (Gerard Butler), a former biker, decides to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war. Transformed by the horrors he sees, Sam ignores the warnings of more experienced aide workers and breaks ground for an orphanage in the heart of territory controlled by a brutal renegade militia. But establishing a shelter is not enough; determined to save as many lives as possible, Sam leads armed missions into enemy territory to rescue kidnapped children.”