You Can Now Stream The Biggest Box Office Flop Of All Time On Hulu

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There have been a whole lot of infamous box office flops throughout cinema history. Many of them have developed a reputation, such as Disney's "John Carter" (a box office bomb we can learn a lot from). We could also cite "The Lone Ranger" or even this year's "Supergirl." But none of them can match "Desert Warrior," a movie that's made very little impact, yet, on a pure dollars and cents basis, is unquestionably the biggest flop of all time. Now, those who missed it in theaters have the chance to stream it on Hulu.

Directed by Rupert Wyatt, "Desert Warrior" quietly went and became the biggest box office flop of all time earlier this year. Released in theaters back in April with virtually no fanfare, the $150 million budgeted epic brought in less than $1 million at the global box office. Not on opening weekend. Not domestically. Entirely. That's it. In terms of return on investment, no other oft-cited gigantic bomb even comes close. This is as bad as it gets. That's to say nothing of the quality of the movie, it's more just a comment on its sheer commercial ineptitude.

With a cast that includes the likes of Anthony Mackie ("Captain America: Brave New World") and Oscar-winner Ben Kingsley ("Iron Man 3"), "Desert Warrior" was meant to help kickstart the Saudi film industry. Instead, it wound up becoming a historic disaster that most people haven't even heard of. It's a monumentally strange situation, but that very well makes it worth checking out. The synopsis for the movie reads as follows:

Defying a ruthless emperor, a princess flees into the Arabian desert, hunted by mercenaries. Forged into a warrior and aided by a legendary bandit, she unites warring tribes for a last stand that will change history.

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"Desert Warrior" quickly became one of the biggest box office flops ever after its disastrous opening weekend, but it only got worse from there. There was a sense that this movie might perform better overseas, particularly in the Middle East. After all, it's not a Hollywood project, and its Saudi backers were trying to make a statement about taking cinema seriously. That involved them literally putting infrastructure in place to make filmmaking possible in Saudi Arabia.

Hence, the movie's outsized $150 million budget. There were also issues during the post-production process, with Rupert Wyatt clashing creatively with the film's producers. But whereas many massive box office bombs are savaged by critics (see: the Eddie Murphy-led "The Adventures of Pluto Nash"), "Desert Warrior" was met with, at best, a middling critical reception. Still, it wasn't painted as some kind of historical artistic disaster.

Either way, this flick quietly bombed its way into the history books. It now exists as something of a curiosity that many viewers will discover at home, no doubt because they like Anthony Mackie and/or Ben Kingsley and assume that it's some sort of direct-to-video production that they're now watching on a streaming service. Except, again, in reality, they're watching movie history unfold. Not the good kind of history, but history nonetheless.

For Wyatt, though, it's a truly unfortunate development. Since he directed the 2011 hit "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," the filmmaker has suffered several major misfires, with his rough streak including "The Gambler" and "Captive State." It might be a long time before he's able to get a big feature film off the ground again.

"Desert Warrior" is streaming on Hulu, but you can grab it on Blu-ray and DVD as well.