10 Years Later, Mark Wahlberg's Big-Budget Disaster Epic Wins Big on Streaming

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Published Mar 12, 2026, 7:57 PM EDT

Rohan Naahar is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

After a largely successful career on the big screen during which he worked in critically acclaimed classics and major franchise films, Mark Wahlberg has established himself as perhaps the biggest streaming star of his generation. Along with Adam Sandler, he was one of the first Hollywood leading men to make the switch to streaming, and he reportedly commands $20 million paydays per project these days. His first starring vehicle for streaming was the Netflix action-comedy Spenser Confidential, which was directed by Peter Berg. Wahlberg and Berg had already worked together on a string of films both big and small. Now, the most expensive movie that they made together is witnessing a surge in viewership on streaming a decade after its disappointing theatrical run.

The movie was released to largely positive reviews in 2016; it holds a "Certified Fresh" 82% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics' consensus described it as "an uncommonly serious — yet still suitably gripping — action thriller." The movie also featured Kurt Russell, Dylan O'Brien, Kate Hudson, John Malkovich, and Gina Rodriguez. It was co-produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who had collaborated with Wahlberg on Transformers: Age of Extinction and the action-thriller Shooter. Their big-budget film with Berg reportedly cost more than $150 million to produce, but it grossed only around $120 million worldwide. It is said to have amassed approximately $112 million in losses.

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Here's the Mark Wahlberg Disaster Epic That's Doing Well on Streaming

The movie in question is the disaster epic Deepwater Horizon, based on the real-life oil spill incident from 2010. In many ways, the movie was a precursor to HBO's Chernobyl, which premiered only three years later — both are dramatizations of industrial disasters focusing on systemic failures and human stories. Deepwater Horizon remains the biggest movie that Wahlberg and Berg made together; they had previously collaborated on the films Patriots Day, Mile 22, and Lone Survivor. Despite the film's poor box office performance, it remains one of the highest-rated films of Wahlberg's career. Deepwater Horizon also earned two Oscar nominations — for Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects — and recently found itself surging on streaming, being among the most-watched movies on the domestic Netflix charts this week. You can watch Deepwater Horizon at home. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.