Mark Wahlberg’s Military Action Movie With 48% RT Score Becomes Streaming Hit 17 Years Later (2024)

With nearly 20 years gone since it first hit theaters, Shooter is climbing the Paramount+ charts. The Mark Wahlberg-led movie served as an adaptation of Stephen Hunter's Point of Impact, centered on former USMC Force Recon sniper Bobby Lee Swagger as he's initially tasked with plotting a presidential assassination in order to prevent a real one, only to subsequently be framed for the murder of the President's guest. Also starring Michael Peña, Kate Mara and Danny Glover, Shooter was only a modest success in its initial release, garnering generally mixed reviews from critics and grossing just shy of $96 million against its $61 million production budget.

Collider is now reporting that, 17 years after its release, Shooter is quickly climbing the streaming charts on Paramount+. As of the time of writing, the 2007 military action thriller has secured the No. 8 spot on the platform's Top 10 list of movies available in their library, a slight dip from its recent No. 5 spot. The movie is sharing the Top 10 with John Krasinski's IF, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher, South Park: The End of Obesity, PAW Patrol: The Movie, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and Top Gun: Maverick.

Now Is The Perfect Time For A Sequel To Wahlberg's Shooter

Though it may not have been a smash hit in theaters on its release, the streaming climb of Wahlberg's Shooter may not come as much of a surprise when looking back at its home media figures. Within a year of hitting shelves on DVD, the action-thriller grossed an additional $56 million which, when combined with its box office gross, doubled its production budget. The movie also remains a fan-favorite among Wahlberg fans alongside his other major military action movie, Lone Survivor, with Shooter still maintaining an 80% approval rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.

With this renewed streaming resurgence, and success on home media, now seems like the perfect time for a Shooter sequel to be considered with Wahlberg reprising his role. Point of Impact was only the first of six novels focused on the character of Bobby Lee Swagger, two of which were later adapted for the Ryan Phillippe-led USA Network show of the same name. Given there's a wealth of source material still to pull from, Wahlberg's sequel can capitalize on some of the unadapted novels in Hunter's series.

The other major reason why now is a great time for a Shooter sequel is the recent rise in popularity of the subgenre informally known as "Dad Shows". Prime Video's Reacher and Jack Ryan are two of the most notable recent examples, and also share a history with Wahlberg's action-thriller as novels being adapted for movies before becoming hit TV shows. While this could make a better argument for a Shooter TV reboot, the fact that Wahlberg's movie continues to be a hit 17 years later might be better proof a sequel could work.

A Shooter Follow-Up Could Also Redeem Wahlberg's Sequel Curse

If a follow-up were to get off the ground for Shooter, it could also provide Wahlberg the opportunity to break his sequel curse. At the time of writing, the two-time Oscar nominee has starred in four proper sequels, two of which were in the Transformers franchise, as the narrative shifted away from the Witwicky family, and the others being the family comedy Daddy's Home and Seth MacFarlane's Ted. Despite the success of their original movies, the sequels all saw poor reviews from critics, and varying returns at the box office. See how Wahlberg's prior sequels have performed on Rotten Tomatoes and at the box office below:

Even beyond the titles listed above, Wahlberg has had a variety of sequels either languish in development hell or find themselves shelved completely after their original movies underperformed. 2008's Max Payne was memorably meant to kick off a franchise with its post-credits scene, while 2018's Mile 22 had plans for both a potential trilogy and TV spinoff. Though the former video game adaptation was a box office success, it was met with near-universal disdain from critics and audiences, while the latter also ended up scoring negative reviews and barely recouping its production budget.

To Wahlberg's credit, he does have a few sequels in development for some recent successes, including Netflix's Spenser Confidential, which was a streaming hit, and the Uncharted video game adaptation, whose sequel is still in the works. While either film could help the star break this sequel curse by improving on their predecessors, the strong fanbase already behind Shooter and its continued streaming popularity proves that a follow-up to it may be the ultimate way for Wahlberg to prove himself a worthy sequel star.

Source: Collider

shooter

3.0

Action

Thriller

Shooter is an Antoine Fuqua-directed film starring Mark Wahlberg, Kate Mara, and Danny Glover. In this 2007 action thriller, former Marine Scout Sniper Bob Lee Swagger (Wahlberg) must prove his innocence after he is framed for murder. The film was later adapted into a TV series on USA that lasted for three seasons.

Director

Antoine Fuqua

Release Date

March 23, 2007

Studio(s)

Paramount Pictures

Distributor(s)

Paramount Pictures

Writers

Antoine Fuqua

Cast

Mark Wahlberg , Kate Mara , Danny Glover , Antoine Fuqua

Runtime

126minutes

Budget

$61million