Leonardo DiCaprio’s Gritty $291M Oscar-Winning Crime Movie Is A Global Streaming Sensation 20 Years Later

20 years after grossing $291 million worldwide and going on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, a Leonardo DiCaprio crime movie has become a global streaming success.

Since the 1990s, Leonardo DiCaprio's movies and his performances have been among the most popular and acclaimed in Hollywood. This includes his roles in James Cameron's box office juggernaut Titanic, being chased by Tom Hanks' character in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can, an Academy Award-winning performance in Alejandro Iñárritu's The Revenant, numerous collaborations with Martin Scorsese, and most recently, his leading role in Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another.

Now, DiCaprio and Scorsese's 2006 movie The Departed is the fourth most-watched film in the world on HBO Max's streaming charts. As of this writing, it is in the top 10 for 18 different countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. Spider-Man: Homecoming, Death of a Unicorn, and 2025's I Know What You Did Last Summer are in the top three, while The Departed is ahead of The Damned, Blackhat, The Killer's Game, One Battle After Another, Blink Twice, and Click. It is not available to watch on HBO Max in the US.

In the Scorsese-directed film, which is a remake of Hong Kong's Infernal Affairs, DiCaprio plays Billy Costigan Jr., a police academy recruit who goes undercover in the crime organization led by Boston kingpin Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). While Costigan gains the trust of this mob boss, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) further infiltrates the Massachusetts State Police as a mole for Costello, while paranoia and violence continue to escalate. The cast of The Departed also includes Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Vera Farmiga, Ray Winstone, Alec Baldwin, and Anthony Anderson.

Despite having previously directed crime movies like Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino, and Gangs of New York, The Departed is the only Martin Scorsese movie that has given him an Academy Award win for Best Director and Best Picture. The 2006 film also won for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing. DiCaprio did not receive an Oscar nomination, although Wahlberg did receive one for Best Supporting Actor.

With a 91% critics' score and 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, The Departed continues to be well-regarded two decades later and is even widely considered to be among the all-time best gangster movies. It was a box office hit that grossed nearly $300 million against a reported budget of $90 million, and the global streaming success on HBO Max proves there is still plenty of interest in it now.

Release Date October 6, 2006

Runtime 151 minutes

Writers William Monahan