Hugh Jackman's New R-Rated Thriller Is Officially An Instant HBO Max Sensation

Published Oct 19, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT

Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

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Hugh Jackman's new thriller has arrived on HBO Max to dethrone a major release, instantly becoming a streaming sensation. Jackman has been part of several hit movies and franchises over the years. Recently, he returned to his most popular role, Wolverine, in one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's biggest movies. Making his franchise debut in Deadpool & Wolverine, Jackman starred in what became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time until Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey surpassed it when it came out as one of 2026's most popular movies. Before that, he played Wolverine in Logan, which featured an older and grizzled take on the Marvel hero.

That type of story is precisely what has been repeated for another massive character played by Jackman in 2026. The movie in question is The Death Of Robin Hood, which, as its title suggests, focuses on the iconic archer that has been the source of several movies and TV shows over the years. The Death Of Robin Hood is an R-rated thriller that was released in theaters on June 19. Now, exactly four months since audiences were first able to watch Jackman's gritty new thriller, The Death Of Robin Hood has become a major streaming hit on HBO Max nationwide.

Jackman's The Death Of Robin Hood Has Hit The Bullseye On HBO Max

At the time of writing, The Death Of Robin Hood stands as the most popular movie on HBO Max in the United States, according to data from FlixPatrol. This makes the R-rated thriller an instant streaming hit, given how The Death Of Robin Hood was released on HBO Max on October 16. It also creates a battle between two major thrillers for the streamer's top spot, as Jackman's The Death Of Robin Hood just dethroned Sydney Sweeney's The Housemaid, an R-rated psychological thriller with a sequel on the way in 2027. Different from the Sweeney movie, Jackman's is a standalone release.

The Death of Robin Hood follows an older Robin, with Jackman's character reflecting on an intense life filled with brutal decisions and darkness after he gets badly injured. Sweeney's The Housemaid is not the only movie The Death of Robin Hood has left behind on HBO Max's US chart after its meteoric rise on the streaming service. The new R-rated thriller currently ranks higher than other movies like the 2026 sci-fi horror hit Backrooms, the animated dark fantasy Coraline, the live-action Scooby-Doo, the Stephen King adaptation The Shining, and many more on HBO Max. The Death of Robin Hood debuted on the chart as #1.

The R-Rated Thriller Will Need To Redeem Itself On Streaming

The Death Of Robin Hood's early streaming success on HBO Max is perfect for the A24 thriller, as it indicates that Jackman's gritty movie is likely to find the redemption it was looking for. While the film focuses on a major character and features actors like Jackman, Jodie Comer, Bill Skarsgård, and more, The Death Of Robin Hood became a box office bomb.

The thriller only brought in $9.9 million against a reported budget of $20 million. Its performance was negatively impacted by a low 56% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a just fine critics' score of 69%. The Death Of Robin Hood now starts on its path towards redemption.