Mel Gibson as Elvis Cooney in a scene from "On the Line."
An obscure Mel Gibson movie is finding a big audience on Netflix even though it never made it to U.S. theaters when it was released in 2022.
The psychological suspense thriller On the Line has been trending on the streamer since it was released last week. As of Tuesday, On the Line was the No. 2 most-watched movie behind Succession star Brian Cox’s drama, Mending the Line, on Netflix’s Top 1o Movies list.
On the Line stars Gibson as Elvis Cooney, a veteran overnight radio shock jock whose being urged by management to change his ways since his career is on the downslide. Listeners start to tune in, though, when a caller with a personal vendetta against Elvis threatens to kill the radio host’s family unless he stays on the line with him and participates in a deadly cat-and-mouse game that also threatens the show’s staff.
‘On The Line’ Was Only Released In Theaters Internationally
Written and directed by Romauld Boulanger, On the Line also stars Alia Seror-O’Neill and William Moseley (The Chronicles of Narnia movies) as Elvis’ show producer and engineer, respectively, as well as Kevin Dillon as a rival DJ.
On the Line was only released on video domestically by Saban Films on Nov. 1, 2022, and began its run in theaters in international markets a few days later. In total, according to the box office tracker The Numbers, On The Line barely made a dent at the international box office, earning $743,349 after it completed its run on screens in Australia, Croatia, Portugal and Russia.
As an actor, Mel Gibson was a box office force in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s with several hit movies including his Mad Max trilogy, his Lethal Weapon films and Braveheart. The latter film earned Gibson Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture as one of its producers.
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 01: Mel Gibson attends Columbia Pictures' "Father Stu" Photo Call ... [+]
Despite past controversies — beginning with an anti-Semitic rant during his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving in 2006 — Gibson won the praises of Hollywood once again in 2016 with the release of the biographical war drama Hacksaw Ridge.
In addition to the film earning $180.5 million at the global box office, Hacksaw Ridge also earned six Oscar nominations — including Best Picture, Best Director for Gibson, Best Actor for Andrew Garfield and Best Sound Editing — and won statuettes for Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing.
In 2021, Gibson confirmed that he was directing Lethal Weapon 5, but the film remains in development. More recently, Gibson served as an executive producer on the 2023 biographical crime drama Sound of Freedom, which earned $250.5 million at the worldwide box office.
Gibson hasn’t retired from acting, however, having most recently starred in the 2023 Peacock TV streaming series The Continental: From the World of John Wick.
