Ben Affleck & Jon Bernthal's Trending Action Movie Sequel Creates A Major Question About The Franchise's Future

Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal deliver some really likable performances in The Accountant 2. A sequel to Gavin O’Connor’s 2016 film sees savant accountant Christian Wolff (Affleck) return after a key character from the first film is killed.

While Christian’s brother, Braxton (Bernthal), was also in the first movie, he is featured more heavily in the second film. The Accountant 2‘s trailers, posters, and other promotional material really emphasized both characters, and the duo has done a lot of press together. The sequel is still focused on action scenes, but the pair’s unique brotherly love brings a sense of levity.

The Accountant 2 has gotten decent reviews since its release. The film holds a 77% Tomatometer, making it Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. One of its champions was ScreenRant‘s Graeme Guttmann, who gave the film 7 out of 10 stars and said it “surpᴀsses the first film.”

The Accountant 2 has also received positive reception from audiences. The Popcornmeter is a Verified H๏τ 92%, while the first movie had just a 77% Popcornmeter. Now, the movie is trending again, but its new success brings about some questions about the franchise’s future.

The Accountant 2 Has Become A Huge Hit On Prime Video

And It’s Maintained Its Spot For Two Weeks

The Accountant 2 became available to stream on Prime Video on June 5. Since its release a few weeks ago, the action sequel has taken the No. 1 spot on the streamer’s charts for two consecutive weeks. It has rarely been shaken from this position, even when acclaimed movies like the Prime original movie Deep Cover have been released.

This chart indicates how interested audiences still are in The Accountant 2. The film came out in theaters on April 25 but has maintained a consistent level of success even in the weeks since. This is good news for the health of the franchise, even though the streamer has yet to confirm The Accountant 3.

The Accountant 2 Wasn’t As Big Of A Box Office Success As The First Movie

And It Had A Bigger Budget

Ben Affleck is on the top of a trailer in The Accountant 2

While audiences are tuning into the film now, The Accountant 2 was not the box office success that it could have been. The film grossed $102 million worldwide. While respectable, given its release date, it was likely not enough to recoup its estimated $80 million budget.

It also was not enough to beat out the first movie. Despite being the first movie in the series, The Accountant brought in $155 million globally upon its 2016 release. Even more notably, it did so on a $44 million budget.

As such, The Accountant 2 brought in less money overall, and on a higher budget. It makes sense that the studio would award O’Connor more money after making a successful series debut, but it did not pay off quite in the way that they hoped.

I Won’t Be Surprised If The Accountant 3 Becomes A Streaming Exclusive Movie Now

The fact that The Accountant series is now trending down in profit could signal a shift for any future installments of the series. The Accountant 3 has not yet been confirmed, but O’Connor has been vocal about wanting to make another film.

The lower profit does not mean that The Accountant 3 will not be made. In fact, the reception of the sequel was significantly better than the first, which had a rotten Tomatometer score from critics.

Rather, The Accountant 3 will be more likely than ever to be a streaming exclusive. This move would likely save Amazon MGM money on publicity and distribution costs, lowering the budget. Plenty of films have taken this avenue, especially when a movie does not do as well in theaters.

That said, it is very possible that Affleck or O’Connor would try to push Amazon MGM towards a theatrical release. After all, the team behind The Accountant 2 has been pretty vocal about their support of the movie and would likely want to give the series another sH๏τ theatrically.

The fact that The Accountant 2 is doing well on streaming could actually end up working against the potential threequel’s theatrical hopes. Its trending status shows that The Accountant movies can do well on streaming platforms, which could signal streaming exclusivity in the future.