Netflix's most expensive movie ever 'The Electric State' is a 'dumb, unfunny' $320 million flop

• Netflix's new sci-fi movie "The Electric State" reportedly had a budget of $300 to $320 million.
• Critics are panning the film, which has a 17% score on Rotten Tomatoes as of publication.
• It's reportedly Netflix's most expensive movie ever. One critic called it "a monumental disaster."

Netflix reportedly shelled out hundreds of millions for their new film, "The Electric State," but its return on investment isn't looking very promising.

"The Electric State," released on Friday, is a retro-futuristic movie set in the '90s. It stars Millie Bobby Brown as Michelle, an orphaned teen who goes on a journey in search of her long-lost brother, Christopher, after a robot rebellion. She's joined on the journey by a smuggler named Keats (Chris Pratt) and his sidekick, a robot named Herman (voiced by Anthony Mackie).

The sci-fi movie is directed by sibling filmmaking duo Joe and Anthony Russo, who got their start as directors and producers on the TV shows "Arrested Development" and "Community" before graduating to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

With two well-known stars as the faces of the movie, a thriving duo directing, and a bunch of celebrity cameos, "The Electric State" seemed ripe for success — on paper, at least.

As of publication, the film has a critics score of 17% from 69 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, suggesting Netflix might have miscalculated its latest big swing.

'The Electric State' reportedly had a budget of $300 million to $320 million

In May 2024, Puck News reported that the movie's budget at a "traditional studio" would probably have been less than $200 million. But at Netflix, it reportedly could have ended up around $300 million.

More recently, Deadline and Total Film reported "The Electric State" budget as even higher — $320 million, which, if true, would make it one of the most expensive movies ever made. To further put it into context, the reported budgets for the 10 most recent Oscar winners for best picture collectively amount to under $230 million, which is still much less than "The Electric State."

It's not unheard of for a Russo brothers movie to have a big budget, though. The duo directed Marvel's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," which was a critical and commercial success, earning $714 million globally on a reported $170 million budget. They've since directed three more ensemble Marvel films: "Captain America: Civil War," "Avengers: Infinity War," and "Avengers: Endgame."

"Infinity War" and "Endgame" are two of the highest-grossing films of all time, with both crossing $2 billion at the global box office.

However, the duo has found success outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), particularly on streaming services, more difficult to achieve.

Their 2022 action movie "The Gray Man," starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans, received middling reviews and a 45% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. It reportedly cost $200 million to make.

The Russo brothers' spy series "Citadel," starring Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden, reportedly cost $300 million to make and scored an early renewal before the first season debuted on Prime Video. Two spin-offs have since premiered, but the "Citadel" universe hasn't prompted much buzz.

Reviews of 'The Electric State' are overwhelmingly negative, calling it a waste of money

The movie is inspired by Simon Stålenhag's 2018 illustrated novel of the same name. To call it based on the novel would be a stretch, though, as the movie completely revamps elements of the book.

Instead, critics have called it "derivative" and "soulless," with "mind-numbingly repetitive" action scenes. Brown and Pratt, who have delivered impressive performances in "Stranger Things" and the MCU, respectively, fail to bring a spark to "The Electric State."

Dylan Roth of The Observer deemed it "a dumb, unfunny action movie for children," and the latest victim in the trend of "unfathomably expensive streaming titles that feel like they were designed by an algorithm and assembled in a factory."

It's hard to know how exactly Netflix quantifies success. Is topping the weekly top 10 during the premiere week considered a win, even if the movie doesn't have longtail viewership? Or does it need to become one of the streamer's most popular films to be considered a bona fide slam dunk? And how much does social media chatter matter?

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Friday, Joe Russo said that "logically, it probably doesn't make a ton of sense" for streamers to spend astronomical amounts of money on projects, "but I think they might — because people still believe in ambition. Executives still believe in ambition."

"'The Electric State' is certainly a big test case for this whole thing," Anthony Russo said, adding that the filmmakers and the streamer have tried to hype up the film in the way that big theatrical releases generate attention.

"So we'll see how this plays, we'll see what this does for Netflix and we'll see where it all goes," he said.

Reps for Netflix and the Russo brothers didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.