Andrew Garfield's 'The Uprising' Hits PVOD Just 19 Days After Theaters

The Uprising, Paul Greengrass's sweeping epic about the Peasants' Revolt starring Andrew Garfield, has officially moved from theaters to living rooms. The film arrived on premium video-on-demand September 29, a mere 19 days after its theatrical debut — one of the fastest theatrical-to-digital turnarounds of the year, and a clear signal that its box-office run was not going to plan.

The numbers tell a painful story. The film grossed roughly $7.8 million worldwide against a reported $20 million budget, opening to just $3.3 million and an eighth-place finish. For a historical epic from a director of Greengrass's stature — the filmmaker behind the Bourne sequels and Captain Phillips — and a star of Garfield's caliber, the theatrical result was a bruising disappointment. A 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD release follows on November 3.

What Went Wrong in Theaters

There's no single explanation for a result like this, but the warning signs were there. Medieval historical dramas have been a tough sell for years, and the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 — a genuinely fascinating moment in English history — isn't exactly the stuff of four-quadrant marketing campaigns. The film opened in a crowded corridor, and without a massive marketing push or the kind of festival buzz that can carry a period epic, it never found an audience beyond the already-converted.

The budget, at $20 million, wasn't outrageous by modern standards — this wasn't a quarter-billion-dollar gamble. But even at that scale, $7.8 million worldwide is the kind of number that gets a film pulled from screens fast. The 19-day window to PVOD is the studio cutting its losses and moving to the platform where the movie might actually have a life.

A Second Life at Home

Here's the thing about films like The Uprising: they often do better at home than they ever did in theaters. The audience for a slow-burn historical drama about a 14th-century revolt is real — it's just not the audience that rushes out on opening weekend. On PVOD, where a curious viewer can rent the film on a Friday night without committing to a trip to the multiplex, the movie has a genuine second chance.

Greengrass's kinetic, ground-level filmmaking style — all shaky cameras and you-are-there immediacy — should play just as well on a big home screen, and Garfield has rarely been less than magnetic. If the film finds its audience digitally, it could join the growing list of theatrical underperformers that quietly become streaming favorites. Theaters said no. Now it's up to the couch crowd.