In a bit of an odd turn of events, a largely forgotten sports drama has been climbing the charts on Netflix as of late. 2014’s “23 Blast,” which is based on the true story of a remarkable football player named Travis Freeman, has made its way into the Netflix top 10 movie charts, right alongside recent hits such as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Trolls Band Together.” So, why now? How is it that this decade-old football movie is finding an audience on the world’s largest streaming service when so many other movies are available for one to stream? It’s a fascinating example of the unpredictable nature of the streaming world we now live in.
“23 Blast” is, as of this writing, sitting firmly in the 10th spot on Netflix’s charts (via FlixPatrol). It centers on a high school football star who is suddenly stricken with irreversible total blindness. He is faced with a difficult choice of whether to embrace a new, safer handicapped life or return to the sport he loves. The film was directed by character actor Dylan Baker, who viewers might know from Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” trilogy as Doctor Connors. (Among his other films is the cult horror classic “Trick ‘r Treat.”) “23 Blast” marked Baker’s feature directorial debut and, in its day, it had something of a muted response.
Baker’s film was made for a very tiny budget of around $1 million, which is nothing by Hollywood standards. Yet, it managed to put together a cast that includes the likes of Stephen Lang (“Avatar”), with Mark Hapka (“Impulse”) playing Travis Freeman. The film grossed less than $600,000 at the box office and has pretty much been left to languish elsewhere on streaming ever since. Amazingly, it’s been streaming for free on the Ocean Avenue Entertainment YouTube channel, which was the company behind the production. But there’s a reason Netflix won the streaming wars, and a success story like this speaks volumes about the power of the platform at times.
A decade later, 23 Blast is finding an audience
There are near-countless movies streaming on Netflix at any given time, many of which benefit from having that recognizable factor. Movies that perform well in theaters often do better on streaming merely because they are known entities. That’s what allows stuff like Tom Cruise’s “Jack Reacher” films to dominate the streamer’s charts. Viewers often seem to be looking for familiarity or easy viewing. “23 Blast” doesn’t quite fit the usual mold of what breaks out on the service.
With all due respect to the filmmakers, it’s not as though “23 Blast” is hailed as one of the best sports movies ever made. To that end, it has a mere 36% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes to go with a decent 66% audience rating. Yet, somehow, for some reason, this 2014 biopic is finding new life. It’s nothing if not fascinating. Baker, speaking to Beliefnet around the time of the movie’s original release, explained that getting the film together was no easy task. In fact, he literally had to get a chunk of the budget finalized days before shooting began:
“When we started, we didn’t have all of our money together for the budget. I had a meeting with Daniel Snyder who is one of our executive producers and he basically gave us a chunk of change that allowed us to be able to do the film. We would have pretty much been shut down. That didn’t happen until March of 2012 and we started shooting on April 2. When we got in to post-production, we found our other executive producer, Misook Doolittle, and she got us enough money to finish.”
This is where streaming can be a movie’s friend. This was a little movie based on a feel-good story. It didn’t exactly find a big audience in its day — but now, those who put in the work are seeing some recognition. It’s a feel-good story in its own right. Success can come at any time. It doesn’t always happen right away.
“23 Blast” is streaming now on Netflix.