Channing Tatum Goes Shirtless In Sexy Drama That Flopped But Is Huge On Streaming
Magic Mike's Last Dance is a streaming hit on Max.
Movies about male strippers are hard to come by, but Channing Tatum has delivered three with the Magic Mike franchise. The conclusion to the trilogy, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, was met with mixed reactions when it debuted last February, but the movie has become a streaming hit. The sexy drama is new to Max and, as reported by FlixPatrol, it has held the number three spot on the streamer for several days.
Channing Tatum has been known for his looks since the start of his career. He became a heartthrob in 2006 with his role in She’s the Man. Movies like Step Up and Dear John solidified his place in the culture, but none have reached the level of steaminess achieved by the Magic Mike movies.
When director Steven Soderbergh brought Magic Mike to the big screen in 2012, the movie made an unexpected splash. Audiences came out in droves to launch the film to more than $167 million at the box office. They came for the abs, but they stayed for the surprising heart in this film focused not just on male stripping routines, but the inner lives of the men doing them.
Channing Tatum returned for Magic Mike XXL in 2015. The sequel did not quite match the box office or critical success of the first film, and the franchise went cold until 2023 with the release of Magic Mike’s Last Dance.
Steven Soderbergh returned to direct Channing Tatum and franchise newcomer Salma Hayek in the final installment of the Magic Mike story. The film failed to find love with critics and became the biggest financial disappointment of the franchise, raking in a paltry $57 million.
Audiences who saw Magic Mike’s Last Dance viewed it favorably, giving the movie a 73% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes compared to the 48% average from critics. Now audiences are giving the movie a second life on Max.
Subscribers have jumped at the chance to see Channing Tatum prove he can still deliver the goods more than a decade after the release of the first Magic Mike. The film follows Mike, now retired from stripping and struggling to get by as a bartender. Things change when he meets Max, played by Salma Hayek.
The two begin a passionate affair that leads to Max offering Mike a chance to put his dancing skills to use as a choreographer for a steamy live show. Mike agrees, setting him and Max on a challenging path to discover who they really are in a new phase of their lives.
The response to Magic Mike’s Last Dance has sparked many conversations about what people expect from modern movies. Some have said that the movie and performances from Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek are simply bad. Others argue that that is exactly why the movie is so good.
This sequel may not reach the surprising and substantive heights of the franchise’s first installment, but audiences loose enough to have fun with it seem to enjoy it. Critic reviews and the post-COVID box office are perhaps not the best metrics to judge the success of Magic Mike’s Last Dance by.
Spin-offs in the Magic Mike world are reportedly in development, but Channing Tatum is hanging up his chaps and moving on. The actor is set to appear in Pussy Island, the directorial debut from The Batman star Zoe Kravitz. The film follows an LA cocktail waitress who finds herself on the private island of a tech mogul, only to discover that the island contains dark secrets.
Tatum will also team up with Scarlett Johansson and Woody Harrelson for Apple’s space race drama Project Artemis. Jim Rash and Ray Romano are also set to appear. The streamer has not yet revealed a release date for the film.
Channing Tatum will star alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the latter’s upcoming directorial effort Wingmen. The musical comedy, co-written by 21 Jump Street screenwriter Michael Bacall, follows two pilots who crash-land in Las Vegas, sparking an irreverent adventure.
Nearly 20 years out from his big break, Channing Tatum is still one of the hottest men in Hollywood. Magic’s Mike’s Last Dance was proof that the actor still has it, and the movie’s streaming boom is proof that audiences know it.
