Alan Ritchson and Henry Cavill’s Action Epic Finds New Life on Netflix
A movie that struggled at the box office has found a very different audience on Netflix.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Guy Ritchie’s stylish World War II action film starring Henry Cavill and Reacher star Alan Ritchson, has climbed to No. 1 on Netflix’s U.S. movie chart. The turnaround comes more than two years after the film opened in theaters to modest commercial results.
The movie arrived on Netflix in the United States on September 16, 2026, and quickly gained momentum. By September 21, it had reached the top of the platform’s U.S. movie rankings, ahead of newer releases including The Seemingly Perfect Family, Best of the Best, and The Whisper Man.
That resurgence gives Cavill and Ritchson’s old-school action collaboration a second life, while bringing renewed attention to a cast packed with recognizable names.
Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson Lead a Rogue WWII Team
Directed and co-written by Guy Ritchie, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare brings Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson together as members of an unconventional British combat unit during World War II.
Cavill plays Gustavus “Gus” Henry March-Phillipps, the charismatic leader of the operation. Rather than the brooding Superman or Geralt of Rivia audiences may associate with Cavill, Gus is a more playful and swaggering character who fits naturally into Ritchie’s fast-moving style.
Ritchson plays Anders Lassen, a Danish commando whose distinctive weapon of choice is a bow and arrow. The cast also includes Eiza González, Henry Golding, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Cary Elwes, and Freddie Fox.
The combination of Cavill, Ritchson and Ritchie gives the film a particularly recognizable action-movie identity. Cavill had already established himself in major franchises through Man of Steel and The Witcher, while Ritchson has become increasingly associated with action roles through Reacher.
A WWII Story Told Through Guy Ritchie’s Style
The film is inspired by recently declassified files from the British War Department and is based on true events, although the movie takes considerable creative liberties with the historical material. It is adapted from Damien Lewis’ book Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII.
At the center of the story is a secret British unit created during World War II under the direction of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and military officials that included Ian Fleming, the future creator of James Bond.
The team is deliberately made up of unconventional soldiers and operatives. Their mission sends them behind enemy lines to sabotage Nazi forces, with their methods deliberately falling outside traditional military conventions.
That premise gives Ritchie plenty of room for the ingredients that have become associated with his action films: eccentric characters, rapid-fire dialogue, stylized violence and a group of unlikely allies thrown into an increasingly dangerous operation.
The story also connects this secret wartime organization to the development of Britain’s Special Air Service and the evolution of modern black-operations warfare, as presented by the film and its source material.
From Box-Office Disappointment to Netflix Success
The film’s current popularity is particularly notable because its theatrical run was far less successful.
Made on a reported $60 million budget, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare earned approximately $29.7 million worldwide.
Its theatrical performance was a sharp contrast to the response from audiences. Critics gave the film a 68% score on Rotten Tomatoes, while its audience score reached 91%, reflecting a considerably warmer reception from viewers.
That difference may help explain why the movie has proved well suited to streaming. Viewers who missed it in theaters now have an easy opportunity to discover the Cavill-led action adventure, particularly as Netflix places it alongside a collection of established movies and recent releases.
Netflix’s own Top 10 data shows that The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare was already attracting 3.4 million views globally during the week of September 14 to September 20, 2026, placing it sixth on the worldwide movie chart for that period.
Its U.S. performance subsequently climbed even higher, reaching No. 1 on the country’s daily movie rankings.
Netflix’s U.S. Top 10 Movies
As of the ranking reported on September 21, 2026, the U.S. list was led by The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, followed by:
- The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
- The Seemingly Perfect Family
- Best of the Best
- Why Did I Get Married Again?
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
- The Whisper Man
- Those Who Wish Me Dead
- The Angry Birds Movie 2
- Shark Tale
- The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist
The result is a notable streaming comeback for a movie that initially struggled to find a large theatrical audience.
Henry Cavill Has More Action Projects Ahead
The Netflix resurgence arrives as Cavill continues to build a career increasingly centered on action and genre projects.
After leaving behind his roles as Superman and Geralt of Rivia, Cavill has remained attached to several major productions. He reunited with Guy Ritchie and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare co-star Eiza González for the action thriller In the Grey, which also stars Jake Gyllenhaal.
Cavill is also set to headline the planned Warhammer 40,000 live-action series for Prime Video.
His next major film project is the long-awaited reboot of Highlander, directed by Chad Stahelski, the filmmaker behind the John Wick franchise. The film is targeting a 2027 release.
For Ritchson, meanwhile, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare adds another major action credit to a résumé increasingly dominated by the genre.
The film’s journey from a roughly $60 million theatrical production that grossed less than half that amount worldwide to Netflix’s No. 1 movie in the U.S. is a reminder that a film’s theatrical performance does not necessarily determine how audiences will respond to it later.
For The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, streaming has provided an opportunity to reach viewers who may have passed on the movie when it first arrived in theaters in 2024.