Ridley Scott’s Epic Film Finds New Audience On Streaming 20 Years Later

Twenty years after its theatrical release, Kingdom of Heaven is finding huge success on worldwide streaming charts. The Ridley Scott-directed movie, which stars Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Edward Norton, Michael Sheen and Liam Neeson, depicts the historical events that led to the Third Crusade.

Now Kingdom of Heaven is seeing a resurgence from audiences, as the film is currently No. 10 on the global HBO Max streaming chart. The other films in the Top 10 are Weapons, The Woman in the Yard, Arthur the King, Wicked, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, No Way Up, The Last Duel, Red One and The Idea of You.

In Moldova and Romania, Kingdom of Heaven has shot all the way up to No. 2, while the epic film is No. 3 in Bulgaria, and No. 4 in locations like Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia. It’s also in the Top 5 in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Despite its worldwide success on the HBO Max chart, Kingdom of Heaven is not actually available to stream in the United States. Instead, U.S.-based audiences can watch the film on Starz.

Back in 2005 when it was released in theaters, Kingdom of Heaven earned $214 million at the box office on a $130 million budget. While it underwhelmed in the United States, the film found greater success internationally. At the time, Kingdom of Heaven received very mixed reviews, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 39%.

Meanwhile, fans gave the film a lot more love, with the audience score sitting at 72%.

One of the positive reviews came from none other than Roger Ebert, who gave Kingdom of Heaven 3.5 out of 4 stars and called the sets and battle scenes “spectacular.” The late critic went so far as to claim that Kingdom of Heaven is better than Gladiator, another Scott-directed film.

A director’s cut of Kingdom of Heaven was released in late 2005 and received much better reception. In the years since then, the historical drama’s storyline has been critiqued over its depiction of the time period.

Scott is an acclaimed director who, aside from Kingdom of Heaven and Gladiator, launched the Alien movie franchise and directed Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Black Hawk Down, American Gangster, The Martian and Gladiator II.

He returned to the world of Alien for Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, and served as an executive producer on a TV show spinoff, with Alien: Earth season 2 having recently been ordered by FX and Hulu.

Kingdom of Heaven might not have received much love back in 2005, aside from critics like Ebert, but it’s finding a whole new audience 20 years later.