The recent horror sequel Black Phone 2 isn’t the only movie that director Scott Derrickson released this year. Back in February, as a Valentine’s Day offering, Apple TV debuted his genre mash-up The Gorge. The film passed a remarkable streaming milestone this week, cementing itself as one of Apple’s biggest-ever original hits. The Gorge follows two snipers positioned at opposite ends of a mysterious gorge, tasked with guarding it for exactly one year. They eventually end up making contact with each other, hitting it off, and promptly falling into the gorge to fend off whatever it has in store for them.

Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller played the lead pair, who are put through a gamut of genres over the course of the film. What begins as a romantic drama turns into a conspiracy thriller, a science-fiction spectacle, and then, a survival movie. The Gorge earned mostly positive reviews, and is now sitting at a 62% score on the aggregator website 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.”

In her review, Collider’s Therese Lacson described it as “a silly, popcorn movie that is reminiscent of the mid-budget movies of the ’00s.” Despite the mixed critical reception, The Gorge was embraced by audiences, which is the primary reason behind its stupendous success. According to FlixPatrol, the movie has completed 250 days in Apple’s domestic top 10, making it one of the platform’s biggest hits ever, alongside titles such as Greyhound and The Family Plan. Derrickson’s Black Phone 2 earned superior reviews from critics, and is sitting at a 72% on RT. That film made over $100 million globally and is now available to stream at home.

Both Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller Have Major Movies Coming Up

Taylor-Joy had a difficult 2024, with her massively-mounted tent pole, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, flopping at the box office despite positive reviews. The movie made just around $175 million globally, against a reported budget of around $170 million. She’ll next star alongside Chris Evans and Salma Hayek in Sacrifice, director Romain Gavras‘ follow-up to the criminally underrated action masterpiece Athena. More prominently, she will play a major role in the upcoming Dune: Part Three. Teller, on the other hand, will play a supporting role in Antoine Fuqua‘s upcoming Michael Jackson biopic.

You can watch The Gorge at home, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Release Date

February 28, 2025

Runtime

127 Minutes

Director

Scott Derrickson

Writers

Zach Dean

Producers

Gregory Goodman, C. Robert Cargill, Dana Goldberg, David Ellison, Don Granger, Miles Teller, Sherryl Clark, Adam Kolbrenner