Stephen King 2003 Box Office Bomb Finds New Life on HBO Max

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A film from 2003, based on a story by Stephen King, initially failed in theaters but is now gaining popularity on streaming services after 22 years. While many adaptations of King’s books have been critical successes, like Carrie and The Green Mile, some haven’t fared as well. This includes Maximum Overdrive, which King himself directed, and the recent remake of Children of the Corn.

You know, even though I’m a huge fan, there’s one Stephen King adaptation that really disappointed a lot of people – the 2003 film Dreamcatcher. It’s based on his novel of the same name, and the story centers around four childhood friends who share a psychic connection and stumble upon an alien invasion happening right in Maine. It wasn’t well-received, scoring just 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, and unfortunately, it didn’t do well at the box office either – it cost $68 million to make but only brought in around $75.7 million.

According to FlixPatrol, the movie Dreamcatcher is currently the sixth most popular film on HBO Max worldwide, as of November 3, 2025. It appears in the top 10 lists of 21 countries, including several in South and Central America like Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. It reached as high as number 4 in both the Bahamas and Haiti.

Stephen King wrote the first draft of Dreamcatcher by hand while he was recovering from a car accident in 1999. Years later, in 2014, he admitted he wasn’t happy with the novel, explaining that he’d written it while taking OxyContin, a painkiller prescribed for his injuries. The story involves a military operation in Maine and features encounters with various alien beings.

Both the movie and the book are set near Derry, Maine, a significant town in Stephen King’s connected stories. Though the film works on its own, the book actually references Pennywise, the terrifying clown from IT who haunts the town every 27 years. This connection to King’s wider universe might be why both are becoming so popular right now.

HBO Max is currently streaming IT: Welcome to Derry, a new series that expands on the story from the recent IT movies directed by Andy Muschietti. The show has already included nods to other Stephen King novels, like The Shining and The Shawshank Redemption. The success of Dreamcatcher might also be connected to its shared themes with IT.

It’s hard to say how long Dreamcatcher will stay popular on HBO Max. Right now, it’s still appearing on enough Top 10 lists around the world to suggest it will remain well-watched for a while. If the show’s success is anything like Stephen King’s IT, it could stay at the top for several weeks.

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2025-11-03 17:07