From Box Office Bust to Streaming Sensation: Henry Cavill's Argylle Roars Back as Sequel Looms

Henry Cavill’s been on a roll post-Superman and Witcher, and if you’d looked at his 2024 slate — with projects like Voltron and Highlander in the pipeline — you’d think every studio has the guy on speed dial. But hey, even the hottest stars stub their toes sometimes. Case in point: Argylle.

This one had “crowd-pleaser” written all over it: big names (Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston… seriously, the whole cast list reads like a flex), globe-hopping adventure, spies, secret identities, plus a “fiction becoming reality” hook. The premise? A reclusive author (Howard) discovers her latest spy novel is, weirdly enough, mirroring real-life espionage — and suddenly, she’s neck deep in double agents and actual danger, wrestling with her own past to survive.

Argylle’s Theatrical Wipeout

Despite ticking every box for a blockbuster, Argylle opened in theaters February 2, 2024 and just… nosedived. I mean, $96 million box office against a $200 million budget is the kind of shortfall that makes studio execs start pricing out their second homes.

So what went sideways? The marketing didn’t seem to know what movie they were selling. Was it a send-up of spy tropes? A slick action thriller? A comic romp? Turns out it was all of those, and kind of none, which left audiences a little whiplashed. People who showed up for dry meta-humor found themselves in an earnest action movie. Folks hoping for Mission Impossible-style intrigue got meta jokes and cat videos. When a movie can’t decide what vibe it’s going for, audiences don’t bother trying either.

And critics didn’t spare it. At last check, Rotten Tomatoes had it sitting at a measly 33% with words like “awkward” and “deeply unpleasant to watch” being tossed around (which is honestly harsher than I’d go). But here’s the weird bit: Streaming saved its bacon. The moment Argylle hit Apple TV, regular viewers—without committing to the cost of popcorn and parking—found it a lot more palatable. Its audience score on Rotten Tomatoes sits at a pretty healthy 70%. Apparently, it’s a movie that plays better when you can pause and heckle from your couch, not locked in a theater for 139 minutes.

The All-Star Cast

If you’re curious who all got roped into this thing, here’s the parade:

• Henry Cavill
• Bryce Dallas Howard
• Sam Rockwell
• Bryan Cranston
• Catherine O'Hara
• John Cena
• Dua Lipa
• Ariana DeBose
• Samuel L. Jackson

Couple that with Matthew Vaughn in the director’s chair (the guy behind the early Kingsman movies) and, in theory, this is a recipe for a franchise. It just didn’t work… in theaters, at least.

Is Argylle Getting a Sequel?

After the box office faceplant, you might think Vaughn and co. would have bailed. But nope: because it did surprisingly well on streaming (seriously, it’s #8 globally on Apple TV—two years after release!), Vaughn is still talking up plans for both a sequel and a prequel. The idea is to flesh out the Argylle universe, with Louis Partridge—who appeared as a younger Cavill in the mid-credits scene—possibly fronting a full 'young spy' origin movie.

To pump the brakes though: nothing’s been officially greenlit yet, so don’t hold your breath for more Argylle in the immediate future. But given its online success, I wouldn’t be shocked if Apple pulls the trigger at some point. For now, if you want to decide for yourself which side of the “fun romp or tonal mess” debate you fall on, Argylle is streaming on Apple TV.

'We have big plans for the Argylle universe,' director Matthew Vaughn has said, basically promising this thing might have legs if enough people keep streaming.

Your move, Apple.