7 Years Later, the Biggest Sleeper Hit of Guy Ritchie’s Career Continues Charming Audiences

5 days ago 7

Published Mar 21, 2026, 1:00 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.

While the internet continues to be amazed by Guy Ritchie's productivity, let's take a look at when the filmmaker entered this phase of his career. Ritchie wasn't this prolific a couple of decades ago, but something switched in the 2010s when he found himself landing major studio directing gigs. This streak began with Sherlock Holmes and its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, after which Ritchie made numerous attempts to launch franchises. Each of those attempts was unsuccessful, although some were more financially rewarding than others. Take, for instance, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword — Ritchie's $175 million box-office disaster that was supposed to kick-start a five-film franchise but made less than $150 million worldwide. On the other hand, even the most profitable film of Ritchie's career hasn't gotten the sequel it was supposed to. It recently made a rare appearance on the domestic streaming charts, seven years after its theatrical run.

It was the most uncharacteristic movie that Ritchie, best known for his gruff crime-comedies, had directed in years. Perhaps the only other movie on his resumé that stands out more noticeably is Swept Away, the widely panned romance film he directed as a starring vehicle for his former wife, Madonna. Unlike Swept Away, however, Ritchie's uncharacteristic 2019 release cost a reported $183 million. It had a relatively standard box-office debut for a film its size, grossing around $115 million across the Memorial Day frame domestically. However, the movie emerged as an unusually solid sleeper hit, going on to gross more than $350 million domestically and nearly $700 million from overseas markets. It remains Ritchie's only movie to gross more than $1 billion worldwide.

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Guy Ritchie's Most Successful Movie Couldn't Break His Sequel Curse

The movie in question, of course, is Ritchie's live-action Aladdin remake. It starred newcomers Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott alongside Will Smith, who played the Genie. Aladdin earned mixed reviews, with criticism being aimed at Ritchie's direction and Marwan Kenzari's performance as the villain Jafar. It now holds a 57% critics' score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, while its audience score stands at a "Verified Hot" 94%. Aladdin was supposed to be followed by a sequel, with a Genie-centric spin-off also being rumored. However, neither of those projects has materialized. That said, Aladdin was among the most-watched movies on the domestic Disney+ chart this week. Ritchie has continued to have poor luck as far as starting franchises is concerned, not for lack of trying. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.