Oscar-Nominated Director’s $5.6M Flop Finds New Life On Streaming After Negative Reviews

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Luca Guadagnino’s film, After the Hunt, is unexpectedly gaining popularity on streaming services despite initially receiving poor reviews and failing to perform well in theaters. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival to largely negative feedback, earning a “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and ultimately earned less than $6 million worldwide during its cinema run.

Featuring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, and Ayo Edebiri, After the Hunt centers on a Yale professor (Roberts) who is close to achieving tenure when a student (Edebiri) accuses a fellow professor (Garfield) of sexual assault. The film examines how people from different generations respond to the situation, and its open-ended conclusion left many viewers and critics wanting more.

Even though it didn’t do well in movie theaters, After the Hunt is now the most-watched movie worldwide on Amazon Prime Video, according to FlixPatrol. The Amazon MGM Studios film became available on Prime Video on November 20th and is currently more popular than other titles like Playdate, Red One, Our Fault, A Working Man, and Tyler Perry’s Finding Joy.

Despite the controversy, After the Hunt might be worth watching for its talented actors and to allow viewers to decide for themselves what they think of the story. While it’s unlikely to be an Oscar contender in 2026, the film is still attracting attention. However, it currently has a 38% audience score and a 37% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, indicating mixed reviews.

Director Luca Guadagnino had a noteworthy 2024 with the releases of Challengers and Queer, though neither film gained significant awards attention. Many felt Challengers deserved more recognition. After not receiving an Oscar nomination since Call Me by Your Name in 2018, his latest film, After the Hunt, didn’t achieve the hoped-for comeback, finding success primarily through streaming.

Luca Guadagnino has several films in the works, most notably the docudrama Artificial about OpenAI. The movie is gathering a stellar cast, including Andrew Garfield, who previously worked with Guadagnino, alongside Monica Barbaro, Billie Lourd, Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Rylance, and others. There’s also talk that Ike Barinholtz will portray Elon Musk in the film.

Nora Garrett’s film, After the Hunt, featuring Julia Roberts, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Chloë Sevigny, is a thought-provoking movie, though it doesn’t quite live up to expectations. While the film itself is somewhat disappointing, Julia Roberts delivers a compelling performance in her return to leading roles, and director Luca Guadagnino’s work is likely to find viewers now that it’s available to stream.

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2025-11-24 16:58