A 2003 movie based on Stephen King‘s work that bombed at the box office has found renewed life on streaming 22 years later. Although adaptations of King’s books include plenty of critically acclaimed films, from Carrie to The Green Mile, others haven’t been as lucky. This includes King’s only directorial attempt, Maximum Overdrive, and the most recent Children of the Corn.
However, one of his most negatively reviewed movies was 2003’s Dreamcatcher. Based on his 2001 novel of the same name, the movie follows four friends with telepathic powers who discover a parasitic alien invasion happening in Maine. The movie holds a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes and earned $75.7 million against a $68 million budget, making it a box office failure.
However, FlixPatrol reports that Dreamcatcher is now the Number 6 movie in the world on HBO Max as of November 3, 2025. The film is in the Top 10 list of 21 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Its highest rankings are at Number 4 in the Bahamas and Haiti.
The original Dreamcatcher novel by King was written in longhand while he was recovering from his 1999 car crash. In 2014, the author stated he didn’t like the book, saying he’d written it while on OxyContin, which he’d been prescribed for his injuries. The story itself stretches into a military presence in Maine, alongside other alien creatures that show up.
However, the movie and novel are also notable for taking place just outside Derry, Maine, an important location within King’s shared universe. While the film is a standalone work, the book makes mention of Pennywise, the clown form of the entity from IT that kills children in the town every 27 years. This could explain its current rise in global popularity.
HBO Max is also the home to the ongoing IT: Welcome to Derry, a prequel series to the 2010s film duology directed by Andy Muschietti. The show has made references to other King works already, including The Shining and The Shawshank Redemption. The popularity of Dreamcatcher may be influenced by its own loose connections to IT.
It’s unclear how long Dreamcatcher will maintain a high spot on HBO Max’s streaming charts. For now, it appears the movie is still in the middle of enough Top 10 lists worldwide that it’ll keep up its popularity for the foreseeable future. If King‘s IT prequel show is an influence, then it could maintain a top spot for many weeks.
- Release Date
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March 21, 2003
- Runtime
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136 minutes
- Director
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Lawrence Kasdan
