Jake Gyllenhaal's 'Road House' sets streaming records on Amazon Prime
Amazon MGM Studios recently announced that the remake of the 1989 action classic Road House has set a new record as the company's most significant global movie launch to date. Helmed by Doug Liman and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, the film has reportedly attracted an impressive 50M viewers since its premiere on Amazon Prime Video on March 21. However, Amazon has not disclosed how this viewership figure was calculated.
The film tops weekly streaming rankings
Despite uncertainties surrounding its viewership count, Road House demonstrated strong performance on Luminate's weekly streaming rankings. The film accumulated 1.7B watch minutes between March 22 and March 28, making it the most-watched streaming original of the week. This achievement suggests an estimated 13.9M views in the US alone during that period. Gyllenhall aside, the cast includes Conor McGregor, Daniela Melchior, Darren Barnet, and Billy Magnussen.
'Road House's legal journey to streaming success
The path to streaming success for Road House was not without its share of drama. Director Liman initially planned to boycott the film's South by Southwest premiere due to it not being released in theaters, but he eventually attended. Additionally, screenwriter David Lee Henryl of the 1989 film filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Amazon Studios and MGM. The lawsuit alleged that the studio declined to license his screenplay despite his reported regaining of the rights.
'Road House's plot and production details
In the revamped Road House, Gyllenhaal plays an ex-UFC fighter named Dalton who becomes a bouncer at a bar in the Florida Keys, mirroring the original film's storyline starring Patrick Swayze. The script was written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry, who collaborated with original Road House screenwriter Lee Henry on the story's treatment. Joel Silver, producer of the original film, returned for the remake, with Henry Braham handling cinematography.
Meanwhile, all previous attempts to remake 'Road House'
This was not the first attempt to remake Road House. In 2015, former UFC star Ronda Rousey was reportedly slated to play the lead role of Dalton, with Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook) as writer and director, but the project never materialized. Before this, The Fast and the Furious director Rob Cohen was set to helm the film but left the project upon Rousey's inclusion.
