Denzel Washington’s Thrilling $130M Adaptation Dominates Netflix’s Top Charts Two Decades Later

Denzel Washington’s action-packed Man on Fire is now a top 10 Netflix hit following its release back in 2004. Serving as an adaptation of A.J. Quinnell’s novel of the same name, the film hails from director Tony Scott and remains a Washington action movie classic.

Now, the film is experiencing a resurgence with audiences, as Man on Fire currently ranks as the second most popular movie on Netflix in the U.S. On the streamer’s top 10 chart, Scott’s film trails only Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrant Story (2025), but comes ahead of titles like Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), Wrath of Man (2021), and Ford v Ferrari (2019).

Also starring Dakota Fanning and Christopher Walken, the film features Washington as John W. Creasy, a former CIA officer who sets out on a violent path for vengeance after the family he is sworn to protect is attacked. With only 39% on Rotten Tomatoes, critics’ reviews for Man on Fire were mixed, but the film fared better with audiences, with the Popcornmeter scoring coming in at 89%.

Grossing $130 million on an estimated budget of $70 million, Man on Fire wasn’t a major success in theaters. It has, however, enjoyed longevity on home viewing platforms due to Scott’s stylized direction, Washington’s commanding lead performance, and some boundary-pushing action.

The traditional Hollywood rule of thumb suggests a film needs to earn roughly two-and-a-half times its budget in order to break even, putting Man on Fire‘s break-even point at roughly $175 million.

Man on Fire isn’t Washington’s first action movie, but it is a seminal film in terms of his persona as an action star. Washington went on to appear in Scott’s Deja Vu (2006), another action flick, but it was in the early 2010s that he truly embraced this new avenue of his career.

Washington starred in action films like The Book of Eli (2010), Safe House (2012), 2 Guns (2013), and, of course, The Equalizer (2014), all of which featured him playing variations of a calm, cool, and absolutely lethal hero (or anti-hero). Though Man on Fire 2 never happened, and the property didn’t become a franchise for Washington like The Equalizer did, it remains a popular entry in his filmography.

Now, after adaptations in 1987 and 2004, Quinnell’s novel is set to be adapted once more, with a Man on Fire TV show in the works at Netflix. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will play Creasy this time around, with Kyle Killen serving as showrunner and Steven Caple Jr. directing the first two episodes.

Though the upcoming Man on Fire series doesn’t yet have a firm release date, it is expected to arrive at some point in 2026. Until then, audiences are clearly enjoying revisiting Scott’s take on the source material.