The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is now the most-watched movie on Peacock in the United States, giving Guy Ritchie's wartime action film a fresh burst of attention weeks after a weak theatrical run. The movie arrived on the streaming service on May 18 and quickly climbed to the top of the platform's film chart.
Alan Ritchson appears in the film alongside Cary Elwes and Henry Golding, in a story built around a fictional version of Winston Churchill's Special Operations Executive. Ritchie's version leans into heightened violence and his familiar visual style, a combination that helped the movie gather a strong audience response even as it struggled at the box office.
That split is the reason the streaming surge matters. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare was released in theaters on April 19, 2024, and grossed $29.7 million worldwide against a reported $60 million budget. By some estimates, it would have needed to reach between $120 million and $150 million to break even, making it one of the clearer theatrical disappointments of the spring despite a 91% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 68% critics' score.
The movie's rise on Peacock also lands in the middle of a busy stretch for Ritchie's recent work. His film In the Grey debuted worldwide on May 15 and opened domestically with $2.9 million, taking its global total to $3.4 million. That means Ritchie now has two recent releases moving through very different paths: one struggling in theaters, the other finding a larger audience once it reached streaming.
For studios, the lesson is plain. A film that looked expensive and underwhelming on the big screen can still turn into a streaming hit when the cast is recognizable, the action is easy to sample and the movie lands in front of viewers who skipped it in theaters. For Ritchison, the Peacock surge offers a sharper measure of interest than the box office did, and it suggests the film may have found the audience it missed in April.
