With Black Bag now streaming, it's time for people to show up for it

Steve Soderberg is hurting, but there’s something we can do to cheer him up: watch Black Bag now that it is available to stream on Peacock.

This won’t fix the fact that one of the best-reviewed movies of the year (and one we gave four stars in our official Black Bag review) has made a disappointing $21.4 million at the US box office — making it the 26th highest grossing movie of 2025 as of publication — and less than $40 million globally.

But what we can do is show Sodebergh and those in Hollywood that there is an interest in these types of well made, mid-budget movies that are more geared toward older audiences, even if it is after the fact. That may be something Soderbergh needs to hear right now after comments he gave in an interview to Business Insider.

“It’s not fun to spend a lot of time and effort on something that just occupies zero cultural real estate,” said Soderbergh. “That’s not why any filmmaker wants to make movies. You want as many people to see them as possible.”

Black Bag is an original script from Jurassic Park and Mission: Impossible writer David Koepp and stars Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Rege-Jean Page, Pierce Brosnan and more. The movie centers on Fassbender's spy George Woodhouse, who has to try and figure out if his wife (Blanchett), a fellow spy, betrayed her country before a catastrophic event occurs.

That seems like the exact kind of antidote to what so many people I hear complain about with the movies. It’s not based on any existing IP, it’s not simply geared toward a child or middle-brow audience. Heck, the movie isn’t even long — Soderbergh packs a fully effective, taut spy thriller into just over 90 minutes.

And again, this isn’t me stumping for a little publicized movie that had mixed reviews. This is a movie that had the backing of a big-name specialty distributor that is part of a larger studio, Focus Features, and its 96% “Certified Fresh” score from critics is among the best of the year, with a positive audience rating as well on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite all of that, Black Bag performed less than other 2025 new movies Flight Risk and Snow White at the box office, both of which were panned by critics.

We’re seeing time and time again that people are willing to go back to the movies. Sinners has become one of the biggest hits of the year and is rejuvenating moviegoers, which is perfect timing as we head into the 2025 blockbuster movie season. Like Soderbergh, though, I’m surprised that that same level of enthusiasm can’t be found for a movie as well-made as Black Bag.

If this continues to happen, as Soderbergh warns, it could spell doom for these mid-budget movies, which are often where filmmakers get to do some fun and different things (even Sinners was made for less than $100 million, less than typical Hollywood tentpoles in the superhero genre).

Again, at this point there’s nothing we can do to fix Black Bag’s box office performance. But this is where streaming can do what it does best — give an overlooked movie or TV show a second chance that shows we do want these type of projects.

Black Bag is now streaming exclusively on Peacock in the US, though it is available to buy or rent via digital on-demand as well worldwide. Watch the trailer directly below:

BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14 - YouTube

Watch On