A 2024 Tom Hanks Flop Is Finally Finding Its Audience On Netflix

The writer, director, and stars of “Forrest Gump” regroup after 30 years for a new high-concept drama. You can imagine this premise being easily sold to salivating studio execs. And yet, Robert Zemeckis’ “Here” was an abject critical and commercial dud when it debuted in November 2024. What happened? Well, according to critics, the movie is just bad. More specifically it is, according to The Times‘ Kevin Maher, “like watching the Sims get dementia.” What does that mean? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out, which you can now readily do over on Netflix.

If, out of pure curiosity, you do decide to stream Zemeckis’ misfire, you won’t be the only one. Netflixers are currently giving the ill-fated drama a modest reprieve over on the streamer, with “Here” working its way up the most-watched charts. The film’s streaming success caps off a month that saw the similarly sentimental sports drama “You Gotta Believe” ascend the Netflix charts, offset by one of A24’s best horror offerings, “Hereditary,” also dominating the most-watched film charts. The latter, at least, reminds us that Netflix isn’t all just generic streaming dross … although this was also the month that saw Cameron Diaz return to acting with “Back in Action,” a truly abject comedy actioner that inexplicably triumphed on the Netflix charts, too.

Now, adding the finishing touches to such a muddled month is “Here,” which currently has a shot at hitting number one on Netflix in the U.S. It probably won’t be much consolidation for Zemeckis and co., but it will at least be something for a movie that must have lost Tri-Star Pictures a heck of a lot of money.

“Here” didn’t necessarily need to be as bad as the critics claim. The film, which Robert Zemeckis co-wrote with “Forrest Gump” scribe Eric Roth, is based on the 2014 graphic novel by Richard McGuire. Both the graphic novel and the 1989 six-page comic on which it expanded were well-received, and though a film that uses a locked-off shot throughout might sound tedious, it is at least a novel idea amid a film landscape that often seems actively hostile to such things.

Focusing on a single plot of land over millions of years, Zemeckis’ film version of “Here” centers around the story of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright’s Richard and Margaret Young. The couple move into a house built on this particular spot and we see their lives play out from the exact same vantage point, all while images are overlain onto the screen depicting the same spot at various points throughout the distant past. Unfortunately, due to the lifetime-spanning central narrative, the dreaded de-aging tech has been unleashed on Hanks and Wright, which Zemeckis must have known would just be more grist for the critical mill.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, that all added up to a financial and creative disaster, with “Here” making just $15.7 million worldwide on a $50 million budget. But Netflixers are happily streaming the history-spanning drama to the extent they’ve propelled the film into the streamer’s charts. “Here” arrived on Netflix in the U.S. on January 30, 2025, and, according to streaming viewership tracker FlixPatrol, the movie immediately charted, hitting number two in the U.S. on January 31. It remained there the following day before dropping to number five on February 2, where it remains at the time of writing. It might have been an all-out theatrical catastrophe, but could “Here” make it to number one by the end of the week?

To say “Here” was a critical disaster is perhaps not entirely accurate. The film currently has a 37% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a slightly more encouraging average score of 4.4 out of 10. That is to say not all critics hated “Here,” though Rotten Tomatoes’ ranking system isn’t the most coherent thing. A “positive” review from Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian, for example, urges viewers to allow “the folksy warmth of performances from Tom Hanks and Robin Wright ” to “cut [the film] some slack.” That’s positivity of a sort, I guess.

Here at /Film, our “Here” review maintains that the film is an interesting experiment gone wrong, with Chris Evangelista lamenting what amounts to “a terribly sad movie about shattered dreams; a constant reminder that life is a long, sad affair that ultimately ends in tragedy.” Hardly the kind of thing fans of “Forrest Gump” were likely expecting going into this ostensibly triumphant reunion.

All of this doesn’t really bode well for “Here” and its Netflix chances going forward. Debuting at number two in the U.S. the day after it reached the service is a pretty good start, but plenty of other films have debuted at number one, including Kevin Hart’s “Lift,” which surely is even less worthy of a watch than “Here.” Meanwhile, in order to make the top spot, Robert Zemeckis’ latest will have to contend with Cameron Diaz’s mega-hit “Back in Action” which is still somehow at number two on the Netflix charts according to FlixPatrol. The streamer’s current champion is at least a decent offering, with Ralph Fiennes serving up a delightfully wicked feast in “The Menu.” Can Zemeckis’ soppy dud overcome such odds? Maybe if it had millenia to do so. As of now, it’s not looking great.