Despite scathing critical reviews, Ghosted became the most watched film debut on Apple TV+

Entertainment · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: When a romantic farmer tracks his date to London, he discovers she is a CIA operative. This action-comedy, starring Chris Evans and Ana de Armas, faced harsh criticism for its lack of chemistry and formulaic plot, yet it shattered streaming records upon its April 2023 release on Apple TV+.

Directed by Dexter Fletcher, Ghosted follows Cole Turner, an agricultural author who travels to London to surprise Sadie Rhodes, a woman he believes ghosted him after a single date. Upon arrival, he is abducted by arms dealers who mistake him for a legendary CIA operative known as the Taxman. Sadie, who is revealed to be the actual Taxman, rescues him, pulling Cole into a high-stakes mission to recover a stolen bioweapon called Aztec from a disgraced French intelligence agent named Leveque.

The production process saw significant casting shifts, with Ana de Armas replacing Scarlett Johansson in December 2021 due to scheduling conflicts. Filming took place between February and May 2022 across locations in Georgia, Washington, D.C., and New Mexico. Despite the star-studded cast and high-budget production, the film struggled to impress critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 25% approval rating, with reviewers frequently citing a lack of chemistry between the leads and a derivative script that mimics earlier genre films like True Lies and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

While critics labeled the film as listless and vacuous, its performance on streaming platforms told a different story. According to data from Samba TV, the film drew 328,500 viewers within its first two days of release across a panel of 3.1 million households. This performance cemented its status as the most watched film debut in the history of Apple TV+. Some observers suggest this success reflects a demand for precision-engineered, undemanding escapism that fits the viewing habits of home audiences, even when the content itself is viewed as formulaic.

General information, not professional advice. Spotted an error? Flag the card or see corrections and complaints.

Intellect Plus is a visual educational discovery platform for exploring fascinating facts and ideas. Brain Food, Not Brain Rot. What is Intellect Plus?

Related

• A high-stakes spy thriller that struggled to impress critics despite its star-studded ensemble cast
• Can a high-stakes spy comeback survive a decade and a half of suburban anonymity?
• How a psychological thriller became HBO's most successful show of 2020
• Why did a star-studded romantic comedy struggle to find its audience at the box office?
• How a suburban vlogger turned a missing person mystery into a viral sensation
• Why John Carpenter's Martian Horror Epic Became a Cult Classic After Its Box Office Flop
• Why did a blockbuster reboot with a massive budget become a box-office bomb?
• A cinematic retelling of the 1994 trial that finally brought a killer to justice.
• The boundary between haunting and horror is often a matter of perspective
• How James Cameron used cutting-edge 3D technology to revisit the sunken Titanic wreck
• A gruesome opening sequence defines the legacy of the 2002 horror film Ghost Ship.
• The British TV special that caused a nationwide panic in 1992

More in Films · More in Entertainment · Latest · A–Z · All topics