2016 Sci-Fi Movie with Controversial Twist Becomes Netflix Streaming Hit
The 2016 sci-fi film Passengers has become a streaming hit for Netflix, one decade after its release.
Starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, the story revolves around two passengers aboard a spaceship headed for a colony 120-years from Earth. While all the souls on the ship were meant to stay in suspended hibernation for the duration of the trip, Lawrence and Pratt's characters are woken up about 90 years too early.
Released in December 2016, the movie has found a new audience after being added to Netflix. According to data released by the streamer on June 9, Passengers was the sixth most viewed movie between June 1 and June 7.
This is the first time the film has been in the Top 10, where its listed below Jennifer Lopez's new rom-com Office Romance, the animated releases Goat and David, the true crime documentary The Crash, and the 2007 animated film Bee Movie.
Passengers' Box Office Success
Passengers was a bit of a sleeper hit when it first hit theaters just before Christmas a decade ago.
While it came in below expectations over the six-day holiday weekend-taking in $30 million and coming in third behind Rogue One and Sing-it wound up becoming the third-biggest original live-action film of the year in the United States, behind La La Land and Central Intelligence.
The movie really picked up steam overseas, however, and wound up grossing $301 million worldwide. That, according to Forbes, made it the second-highest grossing live-action Hollywood release of 2016, again behind La La Land.
Of the film's estimated $100-$150 million budget, $20 million of that went straight to Lawrence herself, while Pratt was reportedly paid $12 million for his role.
The Controversial Twist
The movie was met with mixed reviews when it was released, with quite a few critics taking issue with a major plot point hid from all the pre-release promotional materials.
While the trailers made the movie seem like a sci-fi romance, a twist described as downright "creepy" by Forbes and Teen Vogue, and just plain "awful" by The Mary Sue, caused some backlash.
As mentioned above, the movie centers on a pair of space travelers who wake up about 90 years too early on a 120-year trip to an off-Earth colony. This, of course, means they're forced to live out the rest of their lives with only each other, dying before they reach their destination.
Pratt's character is shaken awake after the ship crosses paths with an asteroid, before he struggles with suicidal ideation while living alone on the ship. The big secret? He then decides to wake up Lawrence's character on his own, telling her that her pod malfunctioned as well.
The two fall in love before she eventually learns the shocking truth that he woke her up and essentially sentenced her to death on the ship. Though she is rightfully horrified when she finds out what really happened, an incident in which he nearly dies brings them back together. In the end, she decides to stay awake with him even after her own hibernation pod is fixed, with both of them living out the rest of their lives and dying together aboard the ship before it reaches its final destination.
"It's unreasonable to insist that every story and movie and book portrays everything in a positive light-that's not life, and media mirrors reality-but to pass an abusive, creepy decision as a tragic, gorgeous love story is part of a much more important problem," said Teen Vogue in its criticism, while also bringing up the topic of consent.
Forbes, meanwhile, says the hidden plot point "sinks the entire concept of the Jim/Aurora romance from the start." Rolling Stone, meanwhile, said, "What could have been a challenging moral provocation dissolves into sappy, feel-good pandering"-while the Washington Post wrote, "Passengers hinges on a morally dubious act that the filmmakers gloss over in a series of creepy justifications and a sudden third-act reversal."
Overall, the movie has a 30% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Viewers, however, were much more generous, giving it a 63% on the user-voted Popcornmeter
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 4:17 PM.