Ryan Reynolds’ New Thriller Remains Streaming’s #1 Hit After Impressive Streak

Published Oct 4, 2026, 12:01 PM EDT

Ryan Northrup is a Senior Staff Writer on ScreenRant's Movie & TV News team, where he has authored nearly 5,000 articles, including features and reviews. A graduate of McMaster University, Ryan began his career in public relations before attending Vancouver Film School. There, he built lasting industry connections and optioned a feature film screenplay.

Ryan Reynolds has almost become a movie genre unto himself. He regularly appears in films that feature some blend of comedy and action, a combination that was on full display in 2016's Deadpool. Deadpool remains Reynolds' most memorable character, and it's a part he returned to in 2018's Deadpool 2 and 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine. Reynolds has lent his comedic persona to plenty of other movies outside of superhero fare, however, recently headlining in Red Notice (2021), The Adam Project (2022), Spirited (2022), and IF (2024).

Reynolds' most recent movie is Mayday (2026) for Apple TV, a film that has been a major success for the streamer. As of writing, the film remains the number one movie on Apple TV both worldwide and in the U.S., beating several recent hits and at least one early 2000s classic.

Reynolds' Mayday Can't Be Dethroned From Apple TV

Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, Mayday stars Reynolds as Troy Kelly, a U.S. Navy pilot who crash-lands in Russia and is forced to work with eccentric former KGB agent Nikolai "Nick" Ustinov (Kenneth Branagh) in order to evade capture. The film, which also stars Maria Bakalova, Marcin Dorocinski, David Morse, Clark Johnson, and Wendy Crewson, among others, comes ahead of some notable titles on Apple TV.

Rounding out the rest of the Apple TV top 10 chart are: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1996); The Last First: Winter K2 (2026); F1: The Movie (2025); I, Robot (2004); Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003); The Dink (2026); The Gorge (2025); Palmer (2021); and Greyhound (2020). F1, of course, was Apple's major theatrical play last summer, a film that became a box office success and earned a Best Picture nomination. Master and Commander, on the other hand, stars Russell Crowe and has become a cult classic.

The Film Quickly Became A Surprise Sensation For Reynolds & Apple TV

Image courtesy of Apple TV

Mayday has been dominating Apple TV's charts essentially since its release on September 4. The film was met with positive reviews right out of the gate, and it currently has an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, Reynolds' most positive score since Deadpool 2 eight years ago. ScreenRant's own Mayday review by Alex Harrison is also positive at seven out of 10, with Harrison praising the pairing of Reynolds and Branagh, the action set pieces, and the effective mixture of action and comedy.

With Matchbox: The Movie set to release on Apple TV on October 9, it's possible that Mayday's time atop the charts is coming to an end. Even if the upcoming John Cena action adventure film does dethrone the Reynolds movie, though, Mayday is certainly looking like a notable success for Apple.