28 Years Later, Ben Affleck’s Cult Classic Sci-Fi Actioner Explodes on Streaming Charts

Of all the nostalgia-bait floating around these days — Westerns have made a comeback, for crying out loud — there seems to be a glaring gap in the market as far as 1990s-style sci-fi epics are concerned. These were the movies popularized by producer Jerry Bruckheimer and often shot by John Schwartzman. Now, Bruckheimer is busy making state-of-the-art, visual effects-heavy films such as Top Gun: Maverick and F1, and Schwartzman is working on pulp thrillers like The Housemaid and A Simple Favor. If you think about it, each of these movies owes a creative debt to the sort of hits that were made in the 1990s. But what about the very specific kind of sci-fi movies that became blockbusters in that era? Captain Marvel and The Tomorrow War come close, but for the real deal, audiences are revisiting the OG on streaming.

The movie was directed by none other than Michael Bay, arguably the most influential Hollywood action filmmaker at the time. Remember, this was also when the American independent cinema movement began, with folks such as Steven Soderbergh, Richard Linklater, and Kevin Smith leading the charge. They were just as influential as Bay, who broke out with movies like Bad Boys and The Rock, and then made arguably the crowning achievement of his career: a movie that catapulted Ben Affleck to the A-list and cemented Bruce Willis as the greatest action star of his generation. The sci-fi blockbuster pandered to the same audience that likely enjoys Taylor Sheridan‘s nostalgia-soaked work these days and emerged as the highest-grossing hit of 1998.

Here’s Where You Can Watch Michael Bay’s Classic Sci-Fi Hit

We’re talking about Armageddon, of course. The film follows blue-collar oil drillers recruited to destroy an asteroid headed toward Earth. If you think that’s a ridiculous premise, wait till you hear what Affleck had to say about it on the film’s DVD commentary. Armageddon grossed more than $530 million worldwide against a reported budget of $140 million. Co-written by J.J. Abrams, the film remains a generational favorite, although it wasn’t exactly well-reviewed at the time. Armageddon now holds a 43% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “Lovely to look at but about as intelligent as the asteroid that serves as the movie’s antagonist, Armageddon slickly sums up the cinematic legacies of producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay.” According to FlixPatrol, Armageddon was the most-watched movie on the domestic Tubi charts this week.

Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.