"What is dead may never die" is a line from Game of Thrones, but it could also quite accurately be applied to movies that flop at the box office, only to explode on streaming the second it lands. This big-budget sci-fi thriller from Rebecca Ferguson and Chris Pratt had no luck at the box office earlier this year, but things have gone considerably better since it came home.
Mercy has now spent seven weeks in Prime Video's Top 10, according to the streamer's own listing for the movie. That's a pretty impressive run for a $60 million movie that struggled to earn back its budget in theaters, and one that suggests plenty of people were simply waiting to watch it at home.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted), Mercy takes place in Los Angeles, in a future where Mercy Court is established to put criminals on trial for 90 minutes to prove their innocence, or be executed. Detective Chris Raven (Pratt) is accused of murdering his wife Nicole and must convince the AI Judge Maddox (Ferguson) that he didn't do it. Working against Raven is his known alcoholism, which caused him to lash out against Nicole and drive her and their daughter Britt away from him. It is suspected that Raven visited Nicole while drunk and stabbed her.
Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) leads the cast alongside Ferguson (Silo), with Kali Reis (True Detective: Night Country) as Jacqueline Diallo, Annabelle Wallis (The Mummy) as Nicole Raven, Chris Sullivan (This Is Us) as Rob Nelson, Kylie Rogers (Yellowstone) as Britt Raven, and Kenneth Choi (9-1-1) as Ray Vale.
How Good Is 'Mercy'?
Critics did not kill Mercy with kindness when it arrived in theaters, and the movie currently holds just 24% on Rotten Tomatoes from 185 reviews, although viewers have been a lot kinder, with Prime Video users giving it 4.1 out of 5. The movie cost around $60 million and actually opened at No. 1 in North America with $11.2 million, knocking Avatar: Fire and Ash off the top spot after six weeks. But the problem was that, well, Avatar was still there, taking a lot of eyes. Prime Video has been a different story though, proving that streaming is essentially an island of misfit movies.
Mercy is streaming now on Prime Video.
Comments 0
No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Leave a comment