Russell Crowe's Best-Reviewed Film in Nearly Three Decades, The Weight, Hits Streaming Charts

Having enjoyed the success of his new Netflix movie Unabomber, Russell Crowe will hope that the far more acclaimed Western drama in which he appears keeps the momentum going. The movie in question was given a theatrical run around the same time as Unabomber's Netflix release, but more than commercial success, it generated awareness for the film's eventual home-video run. The time has come; the Western drama hit the PVOD market on October 20, along with the true-crime movie By Any Means, starring Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Both films made their debuts on the PVOD charts immediately after, and are currently among the most popular titles domestically.

According to FlixPatrol, By Any Means took the number five spot on Amazon and the number two spot on the iTunes chart domestically a day after its PVOD release. Crowe's Western isn't too far behind, having debuted in the top 10 of the iTunes chart and the top 20 on Amazon. Also featuring Ethan Hawke, the movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where it received excellent reviews. It serves as the feature directorial debut of Padraic McKinley, whose work appears to have been appreciated by the industry, given that he was recently hired to direct the hotly anticipated Sicario 3.

Here's How Well the Western Performed in Theaters

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We're talking, of course, about The Weight. The movie now holds a "Certified Fresh" 94% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, "The Weight turns a stripped-down tale of desperation into a gripping, hard-hitting thriller, elevated by Ethan Hawke's magnetic performance and Padraic McKinley's assured direction." This happens to be the highest Rotten Tomatoes rating for a movie starring Crowe since The Insider, directed by Michael Mann and released in 1999. Distributed domestically by Vertical Entertainment, The Weight opened in roughly 1,500 theaters nationwide on September 18. However, it was pulled from nearly 600 locations in its second week, further dropping to 54 locations in its third and 21 in its fourth. It grossed roughly $3 million in its domestic box-office run.