Tom Cruise's Most Overlooked Sci-Fi Movie With A 53% Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Now A Streaming Hit

Tom Cruise has appeared in several science fiction films over his career, and one of his more overlooked efforts, Oblivion, is now a streaming hit on Prime Video. Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) directed Oblivion, and it follows a maintenance technician named Jack (Cruise) who is about to complete his mission on a desolate Earth, 60 years after an alien war. However, when he finds a woman named Julia (Olga Kurylenko) who survived a spaceship crash, and learns she has been in stasis since the war began, he sets out to discover the truth about the war.

While Tom Cruise is one of the main draws of Oblivion, there are plenty of great cast members joining him, including Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman as Malcolm, a leader of the resistance on Earth, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Melissa Leo, and Zoë Bell. It is a smart sci-fi drama involving plenty of twists and turns that work out well for the sci-fi story it is trying to tell. Oblivion was a decent hit when released in theaters, but remains mostly forgotten until now, with it finding a second life on streaming.

What This Means For Oblivion

The Tom Cruise Sci-Fi Drama Is Becoming A Hit

When Oblivion was released in 2013, it was a decent box office hit, although it also came with a very high price tag. The film finished by making $287.9 million on a $120 million budget (via The Numbers). While the total box office looks nice, only $89.1 million came in North America, and after marketing, it was nowhere near a big success for the studio. Even more disappointing was its Rotten Tomatoes score, which sits at a lower 53%, with the audience slightly higher at 61%. However, this is where streaming services help older movies, giving them a second chance.

The idea behind Oblivion is interesting, with a man trying to find out what really caused Earth’s destruction, while also discovering that he might have had something to do with it. In the end, Oblivion is more of a tragic love story than a big-budget alien invasion movie, which is what likely kept audiences from flooding the theaters to watch it when it was released. However, on streaming services like Prime Video, viewers can watch it in their own homes, and for a more thoughtful movie like Oblivion, this should help offer it a second life.

This Is A Nice Revival For The Sci-Fi Drama

Tom Cruise and Olga Kurylenko in Oblivion (2013)

Streaming services have somewhat hurt theatrical releases, especially with earlier and earlier entries onto television. However, for films like Oblivion, which fans mostly dismissed during its theatrical release, this offers a new life preserver, allowing sometimes overlooked movies to find the audiences they deserve. Seeing Oblivion on Prime Video is great because now it can finally become the hit it always deserved to be.

This is also good news for other older sci-fi movies that might not have seen great success at the box office, but can now find their audience on streaming services like Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, and more. There are several sci-fi movies that no one talks about that could discover a new life on streaming, such as Annihilation, Ad Astra, and Moon. If Oblivion is any example, there is no better time to do so than now.