John Travolta may be an A-list celebrity with some pretty big credits like Grease and Pulp Fiction, but it is another film that was inarguably far less successful that Netflix subscribers may be wanting to press play on. Battlefield Earth, the 2000 American science fiction action film that is one of Travolta’s lowest-rated films ever, is set to leave Netflix at the end of November.
Battlefield Earth‘s departure from the streaming library was confirmed in late October when Netflix unveiled its full list of incoming and outgoing titles for the month. According to that list, Battlefield Earth is set to leave the platform after Tuesday, Nov. 30, meaning Travolta fans now only have days left to press play. While the film is available on other platforms to rent or buy, it is unclear if it will be available to stream with a subscription to another streaming service.
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Dubbed “the most outrageous sci-fi thriller on Netflix” by Inverse, Battlefield Earth is based on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s 1982 novel of the same name. The film is set in the year 3000, during a time where there are no countries and Earth is nothing but a wasteland and man is an endangered species. As the leader of the evil Psychlos, Terl and his race have taken over the world’s natural resources and disregarded everyone and everything else, and it is up to Jonnie “Goodboy” Tyler to battle the Psychlos and restore normalcy to the world. Along with Travolta, the film stars Berry Pepper and Forest Whitacker.
The film’s exit won’t necessarily come with much upset from Netflix subscribers given the poor reviews. While it is unclear how many people tuned into the film during its Netflix run – Battlefield Earth never even broke into the streamer’s Top 10 streaming charts – it is regarded as one of Travolta’s poorest rated films. On Metacritic, for example, Battlefield Earth has received a 9 critic rating, a consensus meaning, “overwhelming dislikes,” and just a 2.0 audience rating. It didn’t fare any better on Rotten Tomatoes, where it currently has a 12% audience score from more than 50,000 ratings and just a measly 3% Tomaotmeter score aggregated from 153 critic reviews. The critic consensus, according to the sight, reads, “ugly, campy, and poorly acted, Battlefield Earth is a stunningly misguided, aggressively bad sci-fi folly.”
Departing the Netflix streaming library with Battlefield Earth on Nov. 30 will be A Knights Tale, Freedom Writers, Seasons 1-6 of Glee and Million Dollar Baby, among several others. The departing films will make room for a rush of new additions in December, with Netflix’s December 2021 incoming titles including Queer Eye Season 6, Cobra Kai Season 4, The Witcher Season 2, and Emily in Paris Season 2, as well as the final season of Lost in Space and the final batch of episodes of Money Heist.