Luc Besson’s ‘Dracula’ Beats Sydney Sweeney’s ‘The Housemaid’ on Apple Digital Streaming

Sydney Sweeney’s R-rated thriller may have broken her terrible box office run, but it’s just found a new, and very bizarre competitor on digital streaming. Sweeney starred alongside Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar for 2025’s The Housemaid, which was hailed as the strong return of the erotic thriller genre. Audiences couldn’t get enough of it, bringing its worldwide box office total to $390 million. When The Housemaid dropped on digital streaming, it quickly shot to the top of the charts. But its reign is now over, and it has a very unlikely successor.

The Housemaid has been knocked off the Apple TV top spot by a future cult-classic horror movie. Director Luc Besson is best known for Leon: The Professional and The Fifth Element, but his most recent movie adapted one of the most iconic fantasy novels of all time. Besson is the latest in a long line of directors to bring Dracula to the big screen, and his adaptation is certainly one of the weirder ones.

You’d be forgiven for not knowing Luc Besson remade Dracula. The movie flopped in theaters last year, grossing $42 million (although $42 million from very little marketing isn’t bad going). Christoph Waltz was undoubtedly the biggest name in the film, starring alongside Caleb Landry Jones, Zoe Bleu, Matilda De Angelis, and Raphael Luce. We’d say that the story of Dracula needs no introduction, but Luc Besson’s iteration isn’t exactly faithful to Bram Stoker’s novel. But, audiences on Apple TV don’t seem to care, as Besson’s Dracula currently holds the top spot on the digital streaming platform.

Luc Besson Puts a Bonkers Spin On Dracula

Bram Stoker’s seminal 1897 novel is told in an epistolary format, comprising fictional diary entries, letters, newspaper clippings, and transcribed phonograph recordings. The actual story depicts the infamous Count seeking to escape from Transylvania to England to spread vampirism. Luc Besson read that, thought, ‘Nah,’ and decided to tell a completely fresh story using the novel’s characters.

In 2025’s Dracula, we go back in time to when The Count became The Count (origin stories aren’t just for superhero movies). After the death of his wife, a prince renounces God, and is cursed to live forever. This begins The Count’s journey to defy fate and retrieve the love of his life from death itself. But, as well as the forces of the universe, a relentless priest is in pursuit of The Count, seeking to rid the world of such an accursed evil.

Luc Besson’s ‘Dracula’ Has Completely Divided Audiences & Critics

Caleb Landry Jones stars in ‘Dracula’

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It wouldn’t be a Luc Besson movie without some very divided opinions. Leon is one of the greatest action thrillers of all-time. But the storylines surrounding Natalie Portman’s character have been re-evaluated as controversial. Meanwhile, some people view The Fifth Element as nothing more than a campy sci-fi B-movie with a great cast.

Besson’s Dracula appears to have split audiences in a similar manner. Dracula holds a measly Rotten Tomatoes score of 53%, with many critics calling it tonally inconsistent. However, audiences were (mostly) enamored with the film, as it holds a far stronger 82% audience score.