Guy Ritchie’s 2017 misfire “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” is now streaming on Netflix, giving audiences a fresh look at one of the most expensive box office failures in Hollywood history.
Warner Bros. spent $175 million making the film, plus a heavy additional marketing budget, with plans to launch a six-movie Arthurian franchise built around interlocking characters from the legend — essentially a medieval version of the Avengers. The movie flopped in the U.S. and underperformed overseas, and the studio ended up losing roughly $150 million on the project.
Charlie Hunnam stars as an adult Arthur, who grows from orphaned prince to street thief alongside future knights given nicknames like Goosefat Bill and Wet Stick. The early stretch of the film plays like Ritchie’s classic crime capers — think “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” set in medieval England — before shifting into a darker, more fantastical register with monsters, wizards and magic swords, closer in tone to films like “Mortal Engines” or “Gods of Egypt.”
The film’s central flaw was its assumption that audiences would want five more movies following these characters. Warner Bros. wasn’t alone in that miscalculation that year — later in 2017 the studio also released “Justice League,” a rushed DC team-up film that made less money than solo movies built around Wonder Woman, Superman or Aquaman. Both films became early warning signs that not every studio franchise bet pays off like Marvel’s.
Ritchie’s career has taken a different path since then. Rather than chasing another tentpole franchise, he’s returned to smaller British crime, caper and war films at a steady pace — his most recent came out in May, with another set for February and two more already shot or in production with Jason Statham. He’s also moved into television, with a streaming version of his film “The Gentlemen” and the Paramount+ series “MobLand,” which has become his biggest hit in that format.
“King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” is streaming now on Netflix.
