Jeremy Renner’s Buddy COmedy Just Pulled Off an Unlikely Streaming Comeback Eight Years Later
Streaming charts have a funny way of resurrecting movies nobody expected to see again. Every so often, a title that quietly came and went in theaters finds a second life on a platform years later, catching a whole new audience off guard. That is exactly the story unfolding right now on HBO Max.
Jeremy Renner’s 2018 comedy ‘Tag’ has become one of the fastest rising films on HBO Max, and it is not slowing down. The action comedy has held a spot in the platform’s top four for 19 days straight, according to tracking site FlixPatrol. It is a remarkable run for a film that most casual viewers likely forgot existed.
‘Tag’ stars Renner alongside Jon Hamm, Isla Fisher, Ed Helms, and Jake Johnson, and follows a group of childhood friends who have kept the same brutal game of tag going for decades. The film’s resurgence is widely believed to stem from its recent premiere on HBO Max on July 17, which introduced the movie to a fresh streaming audience that never caught it in 2018.
Critics were never especially kind to ‘Tag’ during its original run. The film landed a modest 55% on Rotten Tomatoes, though audiences responded a bit more warmly, giving it a 57% Popcornmeter score and a 6.5 out of 10 on IMDb. That gap between critical reception and audience enjoyment seems to be paying off now that the film has found its way back into the cultural conversation.
The box office numbers tell a similarly scrappy underdog story. ‘Tag’ opened domestically with $14.9 million and eventually grew that into a $54 million domestic haul, a solid result against its modest $28 million budget. It was never a blockbuster, but it clearly built enough goodwill to keep drawing viewers back years later.
Renner has also been open about just how physical the shoot got behind the scenes. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly ahead of the film’s original release, Renner revealed he broke both of his arms while filming a chair stunt. He recalled realizing something was seriously wrong and heading straight to the hospital, later explaining, “They said it was broken, so I got them wrapped up, and then I went back to work.”
That kind of commitment tracks with the chaotic, competitive energy that made ‘Tag’ resonate with the friend groups watching it. The film currently sits behind heavier hitters like ‘The Drama,’ ‘Mortal Kombat II,’ and ‘The Strangers: Chapter 2’ on HBO Max’s top 10, but its staying power in the upper ranks says a lot about word of mouth doing the heavy lifting eight years later.
It is a reminder that streaming has completely rewritten the rules for how long a movie’s shelf life can actually last. Did you catch ‘Tag’ back in 2018, or are you one of the many viewers discovering this game of high stakes tag for the very first time on HBO Max?
