Not every movie an actor signs on to is guaranteed to be an acclaimed smash hit, and that’s especially true if you star in as many as Samuel L. Jackson, who’s notorious for being one of the most prolific names in the business that’ll agree to show up in almost anything that crosses his desk.
He’s been in all-time greats like Pulp Fiction, Jurassic Park, Goodfellas, Django Unchained and more, box office behemoths Kong: Skull Island, Die Hard with a Vengeance and multiple outings as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Nick Fury, while he’s also been known to lend his name to the odd VOD stinker or two. However, a lot of actors will tell you that the worst type of film to be in is a completely forgettable one, which is something that definitely applies to the functional and formulaic blockbuster The Legend of Tarzan.
It comes with solid pedigree as a $185 million adaptation of a pop culture icon, directed by Harry Potter veteran David Yates and starring Alexander Skarsgard in the title role with support from Jackson, Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz, Djimon Honsou and more. And while it wasn’t a failure by any means, it was just kind of… there.
The Legend of Tarzan drew tepid reviews from critics and audiences alike, and earned a completely respectable but hardly spectacular $356 million at the box office. It was the big budget equivalent of the color beige, in that there was nothing awful about the pic, but you’d struggle to remember anything that happened minutes after the credits roll.
That being said, it’s proving to be a Netflix favorite this week, and having troubled the Top 10 most-watched global list last month, it’s back at it again, with The Legend of Tarzan currently the thirteenth most popular movie with subscribers around the world.