One of the best movies in the repertoire of beloved Oscar-nominated actor Tom Hardy has fought its way back onto streaming. Released back in 2011, and despite falling hard at the box office, the mixed martial arts sports drama has since become a favorite among fans of both the actor and the genre, with the tale of two fighter brothers having now landed once again on streaming.
Directed by Gavin O’Connor and starring Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, and Nick Nolte (who received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his heartbreaking performance), Warrior was met with critical acclaim at the time, acting as a showcase for the star power and talent of both Hardy and Edgerton. The MMA movie now holds a stellar score of 84% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, alongside an even more impressive 92% from audiences on the Popcornmeter.
Warrior is now streaming again on Prime Video, where it will no doubt continue to cement the movie’s sheer quality while making everyone as angry as Hardy’s MMA fighter as they wonder how such a powerful sports flick could fail to make back its production budget. You can check out the official synopsis for Warrior below…
An estranged family finds redemption in the unlikeliest of places: the MMA ring. Tommy (Tom Hardy), an ex-Marine with a tragic past, returns home and enlists his father (Nick Nolte), a recovering alcoholic and former wrestling coach, to train him for “Sparta,” the biggest MMA tournament ever held. But when Tommy’s underdog brother, Brendan (Joel Edgerton), fights his way into the tournament, the two brothers must finally confront each other and the forces that pulled them apart.
A ‘Warrior’ Spin-off Is Now in the Works
A Warrior spin-off series is now in the works, with returning director Gavin O’Connor hoping to tell a new story set in the world of MMA. Titled Warriors, O’Connor has revealed that, much like its predecessor, the spin-off will center on four new fighters (with original star Frank Grillo also playing a role in proceedings), all of whom are on “a collision course to fight each other at Sparta,” the same tournament from the movie.
“The DNA of the movie Warrior was two brothers on a collision course to fight each other in the Sparta tournament. So the series is called Warriors because we took that idea for two men and two women. They’re all fighters, but I hook you into their life fights outside of the cage. We’re going to explore their stories as they’re on a collision course to fight each other at Sparta. So that’s the idea.”
O’Connor has been working on the project for years now, and while you’d think a martial arts series helmed by The Accountant filmmaker would be an easy sell, the director recently revealed that he’s fighting against the tide to find a streaming home for Warriors.
“When we set it up, it was at Paramount+. We wrote a script, and then, for whatever reason, they decided they wanted to go in a different direction. What happened is all unexplainable to me. But I had a script at this point, and it’s very representative of what the series is going to be. It introduces all the characters except for one.
HBO Max then said they wanted to do it, and so we pivoted to HBO Max. And then, for whatever reason, they decided they didn’t want to do it. They were going in a different direction. So I need to find a home, man.”
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