Margot Robbie has a talent for picking successful movies. The Australian actress and former Neighbours star has made a name for herself, thanks to starring roles in the likes of The Wolf of Wall Street, Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood, The Suicide Squad, and, how could we forget, Barbie. But, not every one of Robbie’s movies has been a major box office and critical success, even when some of them definitely deserved to be. Thankfully, audiences are appreciating one of Robbie’s biggest box office bombs, 2022’s Babylon, as a “misunderstood masterpiece,” and just in time for the film to land on streaming.
Three years after releasing in theaters and bombing, Babylon has finally landed its Netflix streaming date. Babylon will stream on Netflix on December 7. The film was written and directed by La La Land and Whiplash‘s Damien Chazelle. However, when it opened, it seemed like Chazelle’s hot streak had come to an end. The film grossed just $65 million against a budget that was estimated to be as high as $110 million. The film also divided critics and audiences. It holds a middling Rotten Tomatoes score of 57%, with an even more divided audience rating of 52%.
But, Babylon should have been a hit on paper. The film starred Robbie, alongside Brad Pitt, Jean Smart, Tobey Maguire, Samara Weaving, Olivia Wilde, Phoebe Tonkin, Diego Calva, Spike Jonze, Eric Roberts, and many more. Set during Hollywood’s early years, Pitt stars as Jack Conrad, a star of silent pictures whose career is upended when Hollywood embraces talking pictures, while Margot Robbie plays Nellie LaRoy, a rising star who dives headfirst into the lavish excess that Hollywood was (and still is) notorious for. The official synopsis reads:
“A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.”
‘Babylon’ Has Earned Cult Status
It might have been one of Chazelle’s biggest flops at the time, but Babylon has since found its fandom. More recent user reviews on Rotten Tomatoes heap praise on Babylon and spite the critics who gave it such low ratings. “Misunderstood Masterpiece! It should have been placed on the lines of ‘Godfather’ etc. For me, it is nothing but a CULT CLASSIC!! I still don’t understand why it flopped at the box office and critic-wise too!!! It is really a great film!!! Worth Watch,” wrote one (clearly) very passionate fan of the film.
That was far from the overly-expressive user review, as another fan wrote, “Such a great movie that didn’t get enough attention. It reminds me of the live-action Popeye movie: a cult classic now, but bombed at the box office. Both of these movies are great movies but came out during the wrong time. If Babylon came out today, this movie would get much better reviews.”
Babylon will stream on Netflix on December 7.
- Release Date
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December 23, 2022
- Runtime
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189minutes