Gerard Butler's 5-Year-Old Action Movie Deserved Better At The Box Office

Although Gerard Butler’s Copshop failed at the box office, the self-contained action extravaganza deserved to be a hit with fans of the genre. Directed by Joe Carnahan, who recently earned a Netflix hit with The Rip, 2021’s Copshop is a dark, bloody neo-noir that makes the most of its limited setting with a tense, inventive, and action-packed plot.

Carnahan’s screen career has been defined by both critical and financial ups and downs. His 2002 police thriller Narc was an underrated cult classic that deserves to be compared to Training Day, and 2026’s The Rip proves just how good the director is at examining the flawed morality of imperfect cops.

However, 2010’s The A-Team was a financial and critical disappointment for Carnahan. That said, his 2011 comeback, The Grey, is not only Carnahan’s best movie to date, but one of star Liam Neeson’s most underrated efforts. Similarly, 2021's Copshop got a stellar performance from an inconsistent leading man.

What Is Copshop About?

One of Gerard Butler’s best movies yet, Copshop stars the screen veteran as Bob Viddick, a contract killer who is tasked with murdering Frank Grillo’s con man, Teddy Murretto, before Murretto can work with the FBI to help expose their mob employers. When Murretto gets himself incarcerated in a small town police station to evade detection, Viddick soon follows.

While Murretto’s plan to lie low in a police station was smart, since it was the last place most career criminals would want to set foot, Viddick was smarter. Butler’s contract killer soon infiltrates the titular copshop, hunting Murretto as Alexis Louder’s rookie cop, Val Young, gets caught in the literal crossfire.

What follows is a thrilling game of bloody cat and mouse that calls to mind everything from Assault on Precinct 13 to Red Rock West. A gritty, 70s-inspired lone-location thriller, Copshop fuses Carnahan’s skillful framing of up-close brutality with a plot that is just convoluted enough to work.

Unlike the director’s earlier effort, Smokin’ Aces, there are never too many players in the game for viewers to easily follow along and discern the stakes. Meanwhile, Murretto, Val, and Viddick are all unexpectedly sympathetic at times, resulting in a morally thorny story.

Copshop Was A Box Office Bomb

From this description, readers could be forgiven for assuming that Copshop was a hit upon release. However, not only did Copshop fail, but the movie was an outright box office catastrophe for Butler and Carnahan. Made for $43.5 million, Copshop earned a mere $6.8 million upon release in 2021.

Fortunately, Copshop’s streaming success means that a whole new audience got to see Butler’s underrated action movie years after its initial release. However, it is still striking to see just how badly the movie failed in theaters despite its relative critical success. While COVID-19 lockdowns could be blamed, this isn’t entirely fair to Copshop.

After all, the R-rated action movies Wrath of Man and Nobody managed to fare well at the box office in the same year, meaning Copshop could have succeeded in other circumstances. What makes the movie’s failure all the more striking is the fact that it is one of Butler’s better action movies.

How Copshop Compares To Gerard Butler's Other Action Films

Butler has starred in a string of action movies before and since Copshop, from 2013’s Olympus Has Fallen to 2018’s Hunter Killer. While 2023’s Plane was well received by critics, its survival movie elements made the surprise box office hit more of a genre blend than the more straightforward Copshop.

2018’s Den of Thieves and its 2025 sequel Den of Thieves: Pantera are a closer comparison and, although the former was a box office success, the latter struggled to win over viewers and critics alike. While Den of Thieves is campier and more fun than Copshop, Copshop’s straightforward story beats its sequel.

Why Copshop Has Been Successful On Streaming

Den of Thieves and Plane proved that Copshop could have been a success upon its theatrical release, as Butler remains a major star. However, there is a reason that Carnahan’s movie had to wait until its streaming release to win over viewers. Copshop’s lone-location plot makes it perfect for home viewing.

Like the similarly claustrophobic Netflix thriller Below Zero, this hidden gem is best watched on the small screen thanks to its self-contained action. The close-quarters crisis of the main character’s predicament is made more intense by home viewing, while some of the movie’s taut brutality is lost on the big screen.

Many of Carnahan’s movies paint on a bigger canvas, like The Grey’s endless expanse of snowy wilderness. In contrast, Copshop limits its action to the eponymous setting for most of its runtime, leaving viewers gripping the edge of their seats.

As such, it makes sense that streaming finally redeemed Butler’s underrated action thriller, as the movie was designed to be viewed at home on a small screen where the action feels even more cramped and the characters even more desperate. Compared to his bigger, more ambitious action movies, Copshop is a rare Butler vehicle that benefits from the small screen treatment.