Netflix’s Latest Removal Will Disappoint Michael Keaton Fans

Michael Keaton fans now have one less performance of his to enjoy on Netflix. Aug. 1 marked the last day of availability for American Assassin, the 2017 action movie that sees Keaton star alongside Teen Wolf and Maze Runner star Dylan O’Brien. Fans now looking to stream the movie will have to jump over to Tubi, a lesser-known (but free) streaming service.

American Assassin, based on a Vince Flynn book of the same name, which sees a new military recruit (O’Brien) trying to stop terrorists from detonating a nuclear weapon. Keaton is No. 2 on the call sheet, playing Navy SEAL veteran Stan Hurley. Hurley is the team leader who trains O’Brien’s character.

The movie wasn’t much of a critical hit at all, but it did pull in decent money at the box office. It earned $67.2 million in theaters, but it’s unclear if it ended up being profitable for producers. Budget reports wildly vary for American Assassin, with it costing between $33 million and $63 million to produce. Regardless of profitability, it’s mainly interesting because of where it falls in Keaton’s filmography.

In the 2010s, Keaton had a strong resurgence in both critical and commercial hits. He strung together acclaimed performances in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Spotlight and The Founder. (He even earned a Golden Globe for his Birdman role.) He then took a very commercial part, playing Vulture in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, in a performance popular with critics and fans. American Assassin followed, which was a bit surprising given his proceeding acclaim. Although it is a somewhat generic movie, it serves as a key sign that studios see commercial value in Keaton’s work again, more than 30 years after he first ruled cinemas as Batman.

Luckily for Keaton fans who do all their bingeing on Netflix, they’ll still have two of his movies on the service. The Founder, his 2016 biopic about McDonald’s exec Ray Kroc, is still available, as is The Trial of the Chicago 7, in which he appears in a small role.

While American Assassin left on Aug. 1, that day also marked the arrival of a bunch of movies to the platforms. Among the movies Netflix added on Aug. 1 are: two Beethoven movies, Beowulf, Catch Me If You Can, Deep Blue Sea, The Edge of Seventeen, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Five Feet Apart, Good Luck Chuck, Inception, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Losers, The Machinist, Major Payne, My Girl (and its sequel), Pineapple Express, Poms, Seabiscuit, Space Cowboys and Team America: World Police, among others.