Woody Harrelson’s “Champions” didn’t do much in theaters in 2023. On Netflix, it’s a hit.
The basketball comedy started streaming in the US on Oct. 28. Three days later, it was the No. 3 movie on Netflix in the country, according to Tom’s Guide, ahead of Adam Sandler’s “Hubie Halloween” and “Gladiator II.”
What ‘Champions’ Is About
Harrelson plays Marcus, a minor-league basketball coach with a bad temper. He loses his job, gets arrested for drunk driving and ends up with community service: coaching the Friends, a team of players with intellectual disabilities.
The team is trying to make the Special Olympics. Kaitlin Olson, Ernie Hudson and Cheech Marin are also in the cast.
The Team Is Played by 10 Actors With Disabilities
The 10 players are all played by actors with intellectual disabilities. The producers auditioned hundreds of people to find them, the Associated Press reported in 2023. Madison Tevlin was the only woman on the team.
“These are all very real people,” director Bobby Farrelly told the AP.
“They taught me that they can nail the lines, no problem,” Harrelson said.
A Spanish Hit and a ‘Kingpin’ Reunion
The movie is a remake of “Campeones,” which was Spain’s biggest box-office hit of 2018. Harrelson starred and was an executive producer, and he picked his longtime friend Farrelly to direct, according to the AP.
The two hadn’t made a movie together since “Kingpin,” the 1996 bowling comedy Farrelly directed with his brother Peter. “Champions” was the first movie Bobby Farrelly directed on his own.
Critics Didn’t Love It. Audiences Did.
“Champions” came out on March 10, 2023. It made $21.9 million worldwide, $16.4 million of it in the US and Canada, per Wikipedia.
It has a 59% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. Moviegoers gave it an “A” on CinemaScore.
