Tom Hardy flop becomes streaming hit after disappointing at box office

‘The Bikeriders’, starring Tom Hardy and Austin Butler struggled at the box office but has found an audience on Peacock

The Tom Hardy film, The Bikeriders, failed to find a significant audience at the box office earlier this year but has become a hit after it was added to the streaming service Peacock.

The 1960s period piece, by director Jeff Nichols, focuses on Benny (Austin Butler) a young biker who joins a new Chicago-based gang called ‘The Vandals,’ led by Hardy’s Johnny but soon finds himself torn between his lifestyle and his girlfriend Kathy, played by Jodie Comer.

The crime drama, also starring Michael Shannon, Mike Faist and Norman Reedus is based on the Danny Lyon photo book of the same name.

Despite being made for a relatively modest budget of $40 million, the film struggled to recoup its cost and only managed to gross $35 million at the box office, despite positive reviews and a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 75 per cent.

All is not lost though for the film, as new data from the blog Reelgood, shows that it is the tenth most popular movie on all streaming platforms for the week of 22 – 28 August after being released on the US service Peacock. It is also available to rent on YouTube, Amazon Prime, Google Play and Apple TV.

Other movies in the list included the original Alien from 1979, The Instigators starringMatt Damon and Casey Affleck on Apple TV, Jackpot starring John Cena and Awkwafina on Amazon Prime and A Quiet Place: Day One on Paramount+.

Interestingly, topping the list is Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga which also grossly underperformed at the box office earlier this year. The highly anticipated prequel to 2015’s highly successful Mad Max: Fury Road earned just $172.8 million, falling way short of the predicted $350–375 million needed to turn a profit.

Vroom vroom: Austin Butler and Tom Hardy in ‘The Bikeriders’ (Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features)

New fans of The Bikeriders may have been perplexed by Hardy’s unconventional Midwest accent for the role. Speaking to Variety, Hardy said he wanted his performance to play against expectations.

“You look straight away at a biker movie and think, ‘Oh, it’s leather. It’s sexy. The music’s great. The hair’s great. The obvious choice is to play to all of these.’ So the obvious choice for somebody like me is to go to the counterpoint of all those. This guy is a tragic clown,” said the Venom star.

He added: “Where’s the pathetic element? Where’s the wretch? Where’s the embarrassing moments? Where’s the weaknesses? I need to flesh this guy out. Why is the voice a little bit creepy? Why is it a little like Bugs Bunny? What can we imbue this stud with that’s so un-studly that I can identify with it? Because I’m not that!”

Audiences can next see Hardy in Havoc, from The Raid filmmaker Gareth Evans.