Key Insights

• Box Office Success: Apple’s film F1 is approaching $600 million globally.
• Streaming Hit: The Gorge is Apple’s top original film this year, breaking into Nielsen ratings.
• Viewership Rankings: As of August 19, The Gorge ranked second in Apple’s worldwide movie rankings.
• Genre Blending: The film transitions from thriller to romance and horror, showcasing diverse storytelling.

Even as Apple enjoys the unprecedented box office success of the sports drama F1 in theaters — the movie is closing in on the $600 million milestone worldwide — the tech giant can finally claim to have produced a bona fide streaming blockbuster. Directed by Scott Derrickson and starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller, the genre mash-up The Gorge has consistently been ranking at the top of Apple’s viewership charts, and remains the company’s only original this year to have broken into the Nielsen ratings. The Gorge witnessed yet another spike in viewership recently, cementing itself as an unshakable hit.

According to FlixPatrol, The Gorge was the number two movie on Apple’s worldwide rankings on August 19, behind only Guy Ritchie‘s $180 million action-adventure film Fountain of Youth. Despite poor reviews — Fountain of Youth holds a 35% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes — the movie has been dominating the viewership charts ever since its release. It was briefly overtaken by the Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney-led thriller Echo Valley, before it reclaimed its crown. Meanwhile, The Gorge also slipped ahead of Echo Valley, and now seems to have settled at the number two spot.

The movie follows two young snipers stationed at opposite ends of a mysterious gorge. They don’t know what they’re guarding or whom they’re protecting. All they know is that they have to serve their one-year term without any mishaps. It doesn’t take too long for them to strike up communication with each other, as the movie goes from conspiracy thriller to swooning romance to kaiju horror to science-fiction epic. The Gorge earned mixed reviews, and is currently sitting at a 62% score on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “Mixing multiple genres, The Gorge makes for a surprisingly endearing romance until its action-thriller obligations steer proceedings back onto a more predictable path.”

Derrickson’s Has a Second Film Lined Up this Year

In her review, Collider’s Therese Lacson described The Gorge as “a silly, popcorn movie that is reminiscent of the mid-budget movies of the ’00s“. Derrickson got his start in the horror genre before he went on to direct big-budget studio films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still and Doctor Strange. His last theatrical release was The Black Phone, which grossed over $160 million globally and is set to receive a sequel in a few weeks. You can watch The Gorge on Apple TV+, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.