He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema.
Apart from Alan Ritchson, who has emerged as a bona fide streaming-era star thanks to Prime Video’s Reacher, if there’s one person who can be counted on to draw audiences for streamers, it’s director Guy Ritchie. The irony is that he hasn’t had a theatrical hit in five years. The most recent movie he directed that did well at the box office is Wrath of Man, which served as a long-awaited reunion between him and his old partner-in-crime, Jason Statham. Wrath of Man was released in 2021, grossing more than $100 million at the worldwide box office against a reported budget of $40 million. Since then, Ritchie has directed numerous mid-budget movies for theaters, but none of them have broken even at the box office, let alone turned a profit. The latest is an action-thriller entirely in Ritchie’s wheelhouse. The movie drastically underpeformed in theaters earlier this year, but like so many of Ritchie’s recent movies, has turned out to be a major home-video hit.
The film reunited Ritchie with stars Henry Cavill, with whom he worked on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare; Jake Gyllenhaal, who starred in Ritchie’s The Covenant; and Eiza González, who played supporting roles in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and Fountain of Youth. By the way, none of these movies were hits either. The new film also features Rosamund Pike in a sinister supporting role; Pike will play a more pivotal part in Ritchie’s upcoming film Wife & Dog, which is slated for release in February 2027. It remains to be seen if Ritchie can turn things around with the film.
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
Guy Ritchie’s Latest Movie Is a Home-Video Hit
Image via Black Bear- Image via Black Bear/Courtesy Everett Collection
- Image via Black Bear Pictures
- Image via Black Bear/Courtesy Everett Collection
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Image via Black Bear
Image via Black Bear/Courtesy Everett Collection
Image via Black Bear Pictures
Image via Black Bear/Courtesy Everett Collection
Image via Black Bear/Courtesy Everett Collection- Image via Black Bear
- Image via Black Bear/Courtesy Everett Collection
- Image via Black Bear Pictures
- Image via Black Bear/Courtesy Everett Collection
- Image via Black Bear/Courtesy Everett Collection
Image via Black Bear
Image via Black Bear/Courtesy Everett Collection
Image via Black Bear Pictures
Image via Black Bear/Courtesy Everett Collection
Image via Black Bear/Courtesy Everett CollectionHe’s already enjoying the long-tail success of In the Grey, which grossed just $23 million worldwide against a reported budget of $70 million. The action-thriller received mixed reviews, and is now sitting at a 53% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The aggregator website’s consensus reads, “Pitting together charismatic stars in an underpowered caper, Guy Ritchie’s In the Grey is a slick action vehicle whose lack of fresh ideas ultimately put its entertainment value in the red.” But the film’s 82% audience score has certainly served it well. According to FlixPatrol, In the Grey has now spent 40 days uninterrupted on the domestic Starz leaderboard. Meanwhile, the second seasons of Ritchie’s The Gentlemen and MobLand further cemented his status as a major streaming draw. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
In the Grey
Two extraction specialists are tasked with devising an escape plan for a high-level negotiator facing imminent danger.
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