SerpApi.Org
Expensive misfires are nothing new. Cutthroat Island sank a studio, John Carter forced a $200 million write-down, and The Marvels became a talking point for an entire franchise's struggles. But even those films earned real money in theaters. What sets this year's biggest bomb apart is that it barely earned anything at all, and now, mere weeks after its theatrical debut, it's already headed to home video.
The movie in question is Desert Warrior, a $150 million historical epic starring Anthony Mackie and Sir Ben Kingsley, and its home release is now official. After debuting on Digital HD via Amazon Video and iTunes on May 26, 2026, it's now set for a DVD and Blu-ray release on July 28, 2026. According to Box Office Mojo, Desert Warrior has grossed $704,280 in the U.S. and $37,786 overseas, bringing its worldwide total to $742,066. Deadline previously reported that the film made $596,000 across 1,010 screens through its opening week in the U.S. and the Middle East, including roughly $488,000 over its opening weekend.
Against a $150 million production budget (and excluding marketing), that's only about half a percent of its cost. Desert Warrior holds a 26% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 4.3/10 on IMDb from roughly 12,000 user votes. It's easy to look at Desert Warrior and come away with the simplest explanation: the movie failed to connect. At the same time, it was arguably never just another action release. MBC Studios first announced the project in 2021 as part of Saudi Arabia’s broader effort to grow its film industry, with Rupert Wyatt directing a cast led by Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, and Ben Kingsley.
Desert Warrior aims for large-scale historical adventure, with Mackie playing a desert outlaw pulled into a wider struggle involving a princess on the run and a tyrannical ruler. However, producer Jeremy Bolt told Deadline, "The film was very challenging to make, the hardest of my career." He elaborated on why:
"We were shooting a battle-orientated period epic in beautiful but harsh desert locations. There was nothing there: no infrastructure, no crew, and no equipment. We had to bring everything in and often from other countries. The effort from the director, cast, and crew was Herculean."
Filming wrapped by 2022, but the movie didn't reach Los Angeles buyer screenings until 2024 and didn't make its world premiere at the Zurich Film Festival until September 28, 2025. No major U.S. distributor picked the film up early, and indie outfit Vertical only acquired U.S. and U.K. rights shortly before the April 24 opening. For a $150 million historical epic, that's a long runway, and opening on just over 1,000 screens through a distributor known mostly for smaller films meant it was arguably in trouble regardless of quality.
Desert Warrior's home release may be its best path to any legacy. Infamous flops often attract more curiosity on home media than they did in theaters, and occasionally they even earn reappraisal. Meanwhile, if anyone escapes the fallout cleanly, it's Mackie. The actor is set to appear as Captain America in Avengers: Doomsday on December 18, 2026, comfortably the biggest release of the year.
