The Channing Tatum Action Movie On Netflix That Is Blowing Away The Competition
White House Down was recently released on Netflix, and the decade-old film is making a surprising comeback. According to FlixPatrol, after releasing on the streaming platform on July 1, the film became the 7th-most-watched Netflix show the very next day. From there, it rapidly climbed the Netflix charts, reaching the #2 spot on July 3 and then, appropriately enough the #1 spot on the 4th of July.
Channing Tatum is the star of White House Down, the action thriller at the top of Netflix for the 4th of July.
White House Down stars Channing Tatum as Marine Corps veteran John Cale, who is working as a Capitol Police officer who applied for a job in the Secret Service before getting rejected as unqualified. However, after a paramilitary group seizes the White House, it’s up to Cale to save the president and stop the terrorists from starting a nuclear war.
While not seen as a bad movie, per se, White House Down wasn’t warmly received by critics when it was released ten years ago, leaving the film with a 51 percent Tomatometer rating. The film, directed by Independence Day and Moonfall director Roland Emmerich, was praised for the chemistry between Channing Tatum and co-stars Jamie Foxx and Maggie Gyllenhaal, but derided for its overuse of action movie cliches.
However, some critics noted the level of self-awareness the movie had, leading them to consider White House Down to be a parody rather than a straightforward action thriller.
Audiences seemed to enjoy the White House Down, however, with CinemaScore giving the film an A- audience rating. However, those who took to the internet to share their reviews were similarly lukewarm towards White House Down, as demonstrated by the film’s 62 percent Tomatometer score.
Some critics noted the level of self-awareness the movie had, leading them to consider White House Down to be a parody rather than a straightforward action thriller.
Regardless of how audiences felt about White House Down, the movie ended up with disappointing box office returns. The film made $205 million worldwide and only $73 million domestically. With a production budget of $150 million, these numbers were probably not enough for the film to break even after marketing is taken into consideration.
How another film hurt White House Down’s chance of box office success
One thing that probably didn’t help White House Down was the fact that it was released three months after Olympus Has Fallen — another movie about a terrorist attack on the White House.
Olympus has Fallen starred Gerald Butler as a secret service agent tasked with rescuing President Benjamen Asher (played by Aaron Eckhart) after North Korean terrorists take over the White House.
When raw numbers are taken into account Olympus has Fallen actually performed slightly worse than White House Down. While both films received an A- CinemaScore, Olympus Has Fallen received a 50 percent Tomatometer score and made $170 million at the box office. However, Olympus Has Fallen only cost $70 million to make — less than half that of the Channing Tatum film — making the less-watched film a box office success.
So, while White House Down quitely left theaters, never to be heard from again, Olympus has Fallen spawned two sequels — London has Fallen and Angel has Fallen. Neither sequel ended up making more than Channing Tatum’s movie, but each sequel in the Has Fallen series cost less to produce than the previous film making each entry into the series a box office success.
Channing Tatum’s career after White House Down
Channing Tatum, meanwhile, went on to appear in a wide variety of films after the moderate failure of White House Down.
This includes reprising the role of the undercover cop Jekno in 22 Junp Street, the villainous Jody Domergue in Quentin Tarantinos The Hateful Eight, and the American spy Tequila in Kingsman: The Golden Circle. He also reprised the role of the male stripper Mike Lane in the sequels Magic Mike XXL and Magic Mike’s Last Dance.
Magic Mike’s Last Dance, coincidentally enough, is another poorly-performing movie besides White House Down that has recently met with a revival of interest on streaming. The film only made $57 million off of a $45 million budget. However, after being released on Max, the conclusion of Channing Tatum’s stripper trilogy spent several days in the streaming service’s top three films.
While it’s probably far too late for a White House Down sequel to ever materialize, it remains to be seen whether the recent surge in White House Down’s popularity will lead to Channing Tatum being given more starring roles in straightforward action films.
Currently, his upcoming projects are primarily comedic roles, such as Wingmen and Project Artemis. His performance in the Magic Mike series also seems to land him more sexually-charged roles, as seen by his involvement in the upcoming movie Pussy Island. For now, you can check Tatum out on Netflix in White House Down.
