After a rather dramatic road to the small screen, Road House is the new champion in the ring for Amazon MGM Studios.
Amazon says the remake of the 1989 action classic is its biggest global movie launch ever. And for the first time for a feature film, Amazon provided a viewership number, saying 50 million viewers watched the film since it debuted March 21.
However, Amazon did not offer clarity on how it reached that number — for instance, if an account watching a minute of the movie would go towards the 50 million tally, or if it calculated a view like Netflix and Disney+, which divide the runtime of a film by the total number of viewers.
“The groundbreaking, successful debut of Road House is a testament to the hard work and commitment from the entire Road House filmmaking team and the film’s cast led by the phenomenal Jake Gyllenhaal,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios. Added the executive, who name checked the cast, which also includes Conor McGregor, Daniela Melchior, Darren Barnet and Billy Magnussen: “It’s great to see the film taking off with both fans of the iconic original as well as a huge turnout from new audiences.”
Road House made headlines ahead of its debut with director Doug Liman said he would skip its South by Southwest premiere in protest of the film not going to theaters. He ultimately acquiesced and was onhand for the bow of the film. The film also made headlines ahead of its debut when produer Joel Silver’s relationship with Amazon abruptly ended in November, though he had already completed work on the film.
Gyllenhaal stars in the film as ex-UFC fighter Dalton, who is hired to be the new bouncer of a bar in the Florida Keys. It follows in the footsteps of the original, which starred Patrick Swayze.