Decades after its release, the 1998 Lost in Space movie is getting a second chance. Once criticized by both audiences and critics, the film is now finding popularity on streaming. As of January 20, FlixPatrol reports that it reached #8 on Tubi, a free streaming platform.
The movie follows the Robinson family, chosen to help colonize a distant planet as Earth faces environmental collapse. Their mission is sabotaged by Dr. Zachary Smith, played by Gary Oldman. Smith is a spy for an anti-government group and plans to destroy the ship before launch. But things go wrong. Smith ends up trapped on board, and the ship is thrown off course into uncharted space. The story becomes an epic adventure, ending with a surprising twist involving time travel that was praised as a highlight of the genre at the time.
The cast includes heavy hitters like Gary Oldman, William Hurt, Matt LeBlanc, Jared Harris, Lacey Chabert, and Heather Graham. With a reported budget of $80-$90 million, it was New Line Cinema’s most expensive film then. The studio hoped to launch a franchise based on the original 1965 CBS series, but critics and audiences rejected it. The film holds a 27% critic score and 24% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Still, it made box office history by being the first movie to knock Titanic from its 16-week #1 streak, finishing with $136 million worldwide.
The 1998 film took a darker approach compared to the original series, which blended family dynamics, humor, and adventure. The movie added heavy action, black holes, and CGI spiders, moving away from the charm of the 1960s show. That approach didn’t resonate.
Netflix rebooted the franchise in 2018 and did things differently. The streaming series put family dynamics back at the center, while modernizing the story for today’s audience. The strategy worked. The three-season run ended in 2021 with an 84% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. While the 1998 movie is still considered a misstep, its newfound streaming popularity shows that even flops can find a second life.
