Though Billy Bob Thornton may be saying goodbye to Landman until season 3 begins filming, fans of the series can stream another favorite of his soon.
Well before he was managing personal and professional crises in the dangerous world of Texas oil drilling, Thornton led the cast of Bad News Bears, the 2005 remake of the 1976 sports comedy. Hailing from five-time Oscar nominee Richard Linklater, the film centers on Morris Buttermaker, a once-professional baseball player whose failings led to him becoming an alcoholic womanizer. However, when he’s hired to coach a little league team of unskilled players, he slowly takes the opportunity to turn them into a winning crew.
Now, over 20 years after the film first hit theaters, Bad News Bears is about to get a new streaming home on Paramount+. The comedy remake, which is currently available to stream on Prime Video and Hoopla, will premiere on Paramount+ on February 1.
Also starring Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear, Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden and Sammi Kane Kraft, Bad News Bears proved something of an underperformer upon its release. Critics were largely mixed on the remake, though admired Thornton’s performance being reminiscent of his Golden Globe-nominated turn in Bad Santa, netting it a 48% “Rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. At the time, audiences were also mixed on the film, earning it a 46% score and failing at the box office, grossing $34.3 million against its $35 million production budget.
In the years since, however, Bad News Bears has developed something of a cult following, much in the way many other Linklater-helmed films have, thanks to syndicated broadcasts. Even more intriguing is that the movie seemed to have created a real-life copycat situation, as a Los Angeles-based little league team found themselves overcoming financial difficulties with the help of a donation from a local strip club.
Bad News Bears‘ Paramount+ arrival comes at the perfect time as Landman season 2 just recently came to a close on the platform. In spite of its divisive reception from viewers, season 2 set a new record for the biggest audience ever for an original show’s finale on the platform. The Taylor Sheridan-created series has been renewed for season 3, but with Thornton’s co-star Jacob Lofland recently telling ScreenRant he had no updates on when filming would begin, the cult classic remake comes at the perfect time to fill that void.
Even beyond Landman, Paramount+ has proven to be a welcome home for a number of Thornton’s movies prior to Bad News Bears‘ arrival. Between the biographical war comedy Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, which marked his third collaboration with the writing pair behind the Bears remake, and the Shia LaBeouf-led hit action-thriller Eagle Eye, fans of the Oscar winner will have plenty to dive into come February.
- Release Date
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July 22, 2005
- Runtime
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113 Minutes
