Apple Finds New Streaming Hit With Ridley Scott's $630 Million Sci-Fi Masterpiece

When a Ridley Scott movie is added to streaming, it almost always blows up, gaining a second life on whichever platform it lands on. His historical action epics, like Gladiator (and Gladiator II), Kingdom of Heaven, and Robin Hood, have all found new life this year on Netflix, Paramount+, and even free streaming platforms like Tubi. But one of Ridley Scott’s best sci-fi movies (which is saying a lot, considering he directed Alien and Blade Runner) and easily his best movie in years just landed on a new streaming platform. Unsurprisingly, it’s blasting up the streaming charts.

Based on the best-selling and multi-award-winning sci-fi novel by Andy Weir (Project Hail Mary), Ridley Scott’s The Martian is now streaming on Apple TV. The streamer recently added some acquired films to its library, rather than just Apple Original movies, including The Martian. After just a few days on the streaming platform, Scott’s sci-fi hit is currently the seventh most popular movie on Apple TV in the US. The new pickleball comedy (of course there’s a pickleball movie), The Dink, holds the top spot.

If you haven’t seen The Martian yet, then you’re missing out on one of the greatest sci-fi films of this century (it’s up there with Interstellar). Matt Damon plays Mark Watney, a botanist on part of a research mission to Mars. When a severe storm causes the team to abandon the Red Planet, Mark is left behind, presumed dead. With just a few scraps of their base remaining, Mark must reconnect with NASA, survive on the inhospitable planet, and find a way to get home. It might sound like an absurd plot, but The Martian puts the “science” in science fiction. There are some scientific errors. But, for the most part, it is one of the most scientifically accurate space movies ever made.

‘The Martian’ Is a Sci-Fi Modern Classic

Even without Ridley Scott in the director’s chair, The Martian had the chance to be a modern classic, thanks to Weir’s fantastic source material. However, the pairing of Weir and Scott made cinematic gold. The film holds a joint 91% rating from both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also a major box office success, grossing over $630 million worldwide, against a budget of $108 million.

19 Classic Movies Were Just Added to Apple TV

Jurrasic Park T-Rex — Jurrasic Park Trex

Unlike Netflix and Prime Video, which began by offering licensed shows and movies before producing their own content, Apple TV took the reverse approach. The tech company bet big on filmmakers like Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon) and Ridley Scott (Napoleon), producing original movies for Apple TV (formerly Apple TV+). Those were then followed up with tremendous shows, like Severance, Silo, Trying, and many more. Apple TV is finally making the jump to licensed movies. As well as The Martian, 18 other movies were just added to the platform. You can find the full list below: