John Malkovich’s Often-Memed A24 Thriller Becomes a Sleeper Hit on Streaming

The one-time flag-bearer of art-house cinema, A24 had been having a rather difficult time at the box office before the romantic comedy Materialists came along and offered some respite. Among A24’s biggest disappointments of 2025 is Opus, a strange little thriller that seemed to have all the makings of a breakout hit — a talented cast, a creepy premise, and intriguing marketing — but failed at the box office. Now, Opus is witnessing something of a resurrection on streaming.

On July 13, it claimed the third spot on HBO Max charts domestically, behind Sinners and A Minecraft Movie, both of which emerged as blockbusters during their theatrical runs and earned a combined total of over $1.3 billion worldwide. Opus, on the other hand, grossed only around $2 million against a reported budget of $10 million. Directed by debutante Mark Anthony Green, the movie holds a 40% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “John Malkovich is clearly having a ball playing a nefarious pop musician, but unfortunately, the rest of Opus is too conceptually confused for the star’s fun to be infectious.”

The movie revolves around a famous pop star, who resurfaces publicly after going underground years ago. Played by Malkovich, the pop star invites a random group of people to his private residence to experience his comeback album first-hand. What unfolds is an unsettling thriller that never quite reaches its true potential. But it certainly provides plenty of meme-worthy moments featuring Malkovich. None is as memorable as a musical sequence in which he performs a song while dancing in a circle of spectators. In his review, Collider’s Ross Bonaime compared it to Midsommar and Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, and wrote that it’s “somewhat like finding pearls within a bit of an unwieldy mess.”

A24 Has a Promising Slate Lined Up

Around the same time as Opus, A24 debuted the films Death of a Unicorn, The Legend of Ochi, and Friendship. All of them underperformed at the box office, as did Warfare and Bring Her Back. This comes amid A24’s efforts to level up, following the massive success of its 2024 slate, which included Civil War, Babygirl, Heretic, and We Live in Time. Up next on the slate are The Smashing Machine, starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, and Marty Supreme, starring Timothée Chalamet. You can watch Opus on HBO Max domestically, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.