Maintaining a successful action franchise in the streaming era can be challenging, but on the other hand, it offers studios more opportunities for additional revenue streams. The movie Den of Thieves owes much of its sequel’s success to the strong following it developed on PVOD platforms.
Released just last week, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera nearly matched the original film’s opening performance during its first three days in theaters and has now propelled the franchise past a significant global box office milestone.
Den of Thieves 2 earned $20 million worldwide in its opening weekend, with $15 million of that coming from U.S. theaters.
The first Den of Thieves, released in 2018, ended its run with about $45 million in domestic earnings and $80 million globally. Together, the two films have now grossed $100 million worldwide.
Both films were directed by Christian Gudegast. While the original film had a reported production budget of $30 million and was distributed by STX Films, the sequel had a reported budget of $40 million and was distributed by Lionsgate, which had been struggling and hadn’t seen a number-one debut since The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes in 2023.
Both films had domestic debuts around $15 million and received mixed reviews. The first Den of Thieves currently holds a 41% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while the sequel has a much higher rating of 55%, nearly “fresh.”
Matthew Donato, however, wrote that the sequel “struts the strut but ruins the illusion when it talks.”
Despite the mixed reviews, both films have been more appreciated by audiences. They have also been compared to the work of Michael Mann, which is high praise for what could have been another standard Gerard Butler action film.
Den of Thieves 2 has the potential to spawn a third installment, depending on its performance. Gerard Butler, known for leading the Has Fallen trilogy past $500 million globally, will return for a fourth Has Fallen film after resolving his legal differences with some of the series’ producers.
In Den of Thieves 2, he stars alongside O’Shea Jackson Jr. and other notable cast members, including Evin Ahmad, Salvatore Esposito, Meadow Williams, Swen Temmel, and Michael Bisping. The sequel shifts the action to Europe, and if it performs well, another sequel may follow.
