Lionsgate’s 2015 suspense thriller Knock Knock, directed by Eli Roth and starring Keanu Reeves, very much came and went.
It had super-limited releases all around the world, grossing just under $5.6 million globally, and only $36,336 domestically, playing at only 22 North American theaters.
Knock Knock, which casts Reeves as a devoted family man, surprisingly visited upon by two vixen-ish villains (Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas) with evil—and sexy!—plans while his wife and kid are way, had a super-cheap reported production budget of $2.5 million. It probably made that back in its myriad global pay TV and home video windows.
But scoring a collective 35% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, this is a film that had very little, or any, profile, especially compared to Reeves’ other recent work, which notably includes the John Wick series of ultra-violent movie titles. Certainly, it’s not among Roth’s better known work, either.
But due to the machinations of global movie package deals, the title wound up on Netflix this month. And there, it has found serious traction, ranking Thursday as the No. 2 most watched title on the site.
With pandemic slowing the production pipeline and gumming up the natural progression of theatrical titles to the home entertainment window, Knock Knock seems to among a number of come-and-gone movies that surprisingly back again, with content hungry audiences who’ve seen at all and streamed at all looking for something—anything!—that they’ve haven’t already seen.
That list also includes Netflix’s No. 3 most watched title Thursday, the 2018 STX Entertainment action film Mile 22, starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Peter Berg, which grossed only $36.1 million domestically and $66.3 million around the world.
