Michelle Pfeiffer's Forgotten 1985 Fantasy Flop Is The Most-Watched Movie On Tubi's Charts

The '80s weren't a great time for the fantasy genre, at least in terms of commercial success. The decade produced multiple fantasy box office bombs that, in retrospect, deserve a second chance, including the beloved fantasy classic "Labyrinth," which, it might surprise you to learn, was a certified flop upon its initial release. Even legendary director Richard Donner struggled when he unleashed "Ladyhawke" upon the world and was met with indifference at best.

The filmmaker had cemented the concept of the modern blockbuster with 1978's "Superman" before being unceremoniously removed from the sequel and replaced with director Richard Lester, despite the fact Donner had already shot most of the movie. After that, Donner fell into something of a dry spell. 1980's "Inside Moves" was received well enough, but Donner's Richard Pryor-led 1982 comedy "The Toy" was panned despite making a decent profit.

In 1985, Donner made the switch to fantasy with "Ladyhawke," a film featuring an all-star trio in the form of Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, and Michelle Pfeiffer. As much a romance as it is a medieval fantasy tale, "Ladyhawke" seemed primed for success, but ended up being yet another flop for Donner, even while critics were much more impressed than they were with "The Toy." Now, the movie is getting somewhat of a revival courtesy of free streamer Tubi.

Just in case the absolute cavalcade of media on offer in 2025 wasn't enough to overwhelm our collective prefrontal cortex, Tubi and its expansive catalog has become a popular streaming platform in recent years. While the service is unsurprisingly home to a vast amount of duds, Tubi also boasts a surprisingly solid array of horror movies and made /Film's list of the 10 best streaming services. Now, it has resurrected Richard Donner's forgotten fantasy flop and Tubi viewers are evidently glad to see it re-emerge.

"Ladyhawke" has been on Tubi for some time, but it seems viewers have only recently managed to unearth it from beneath the piles of "content." According to FlixPatrol, a site that tracks streaming viewership numbers, the film hit the Tubi charts on May 11, 2025 when it ranked at number five. The following day it jumped to the number three spot before taking number one on May 13, 2025.

That's an impressive little run for "Ladyhawke," which has quickly risen to the top of the Tubi rankings, overtaking multiple "Fast and Furious" movies and two films from Ice Cube's "Friday" franchise to take number one. How long it will stay there remains unclear, but there's nothing in the charts at the time of writing which would suggest its days at the top are numbered.

"Ladyhawke" begins by focusing on thief Phillipe Gaston, aka "The Mouse" (Matthew Broderick), who escapes from a dungeon before befriending warrior Etienne of Navarre (Rutger Hauer) and his love, Lady Isabeau d'Anjou (Michelle Pfeiffer). Navarre and Isabeau were cursed by the evil Bishop of Aquila (John Wood) to spend their lives as animals, but are able to spend one moment with each other at twilight, during which time they inhabit their human forms before being torn apart again by the curse. Gaston then joins the pair on a quest to overthrow the Bishop and save Navarre and Isabeau from their curse, with the movie turning into an epic love story as it unfurls.

Kurt Russell was once attached to "Ladyhawke" but dropped out, which was probably for the best considering the fact the movie made just $18.4 million on a $20 million budget. That said, "Ladyhawke" made /Film's list of the best sword and sorcery films, and a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes isn't the worst number we've ever seen. Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times thought the stars were "extravagantly good," praising Hauer for possessing "a sense of intelligence behind his physical exploits," Pfeiffer for remaining "strong and exquisite," and Broderick for being "irresistible, comic and wistful by turns." Paul Attanasio of the Washington Post, on the other hand, wrote, "Unfortunately, director Richard Donner never quite gets the tone right, and the pace is positively stuporous. The horses gallop, but the film barely canters." None of that held the film back on Tubi, however, providing a small reprieve for Donner's under-appreciated fantasy.