Almost a year after flopping at the box office, Johannes Roberts‘ Primate is now getting a second burst of life on streaming.
According to FlixPatrol, the film is currently sitting comfortably at No. 9 on Netflix’s global Top 10 Movies chart, just behind recent additions like The Storm and Unabomber. This will come as a particular surprise to anybody who was tracking the film’s box office returns last year.
The film turned in roughly $39 million worldwide against a reported budget in excess of $20 million, which means that it likely didn’t turn a profit for Paramount Pictures when marketing and distribution costs are accounted for. Surprisingly, the film did have an impressive opening weekend with $11.3 million in the United States alone, but it lacked the staying power necessary to leave an impact.
Directed by Johannes Roberts from a screenplay co-written by Ernest Riera, Primate tells the story of an adopted chimpanzee who contracts rabies and becomes increasingly violent, turning against his owners. The film stars Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, and Troy Kotsur.
Despite the negative reception at the box office, Primate still received some positive reviews from critics. It wasn’t a massive critical darling by any means, but most reviews praised Roberts’ gripping, immersive filmmaking techniques and the bold, ambitious storytelling needed to make this eccentric story work.
In a 3/4 star review, Clint Worthington of RoberEbert.com wrote: “It gets you in and out of the theater in less than 90 minutes, squirming in your seat and yelling at the screen.” Similar sentiments were echoed by BloodyDisgusting, which called Primate “an old school animal attack creature feature”.
Today, the film holds an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 77%, reflecting this joint adoration from critics and audiences alike. Although Primate is currently dominating Netflix charts worldwide, the film is actually only currently available to stream in the United States on Amazon Prime Video.
