Having failed to meet Universal’s standards, the spy thriller Black Bag will reportedly be given a digital release in a few days, less than a month after it debuted theatrically around the world. Directed by the prolific Steven Soderbergh, Black Bag has under-performed at the box office, and stands little chance of recovering its reported production budget theatrically. It will, however, continue to make money once it lands on PVOD platforms. A couple of years ago, Universal and Focus Features witnessed the resurgence of Robert Eggers’ The Northman on digital, after the historical epic delivered lukewarm results at the box office.
With $18 million domestically and another $12 million from overseas markets, Black Bag’s cumulative global haul now stands at $31 million. This will probably be its final global box office milestone, as it heads towards streaming soon. Starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender, Black Bag is Soderbergh’s second film of the year, after January’s horror movie Presence. That movie grossed around $10 million worldwide, against a reported budget of around $2 million. Black Bag, on the other hand, is said to have cost $50 million to produce.
Hollywood doesn’t produce star-driven, mid-budget movies as often as it used to. And that’s primarily because they don’t perform as well as they did, especially in the post-pandemic era. However, just last year, Focus delivered a major hit in Eggers’ Nosferatu, which grossed over $180 million worldwide, also against a reported budget of $50 million. Like that movie, Black Bag opened to positive reviews. In fact, it’s Soderbergh’s highest-rated film ever, according to the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where it holds a “fresh” 96% approval rating.
‘Black Bag’ Had a Disappointingly Short Theatrical Run

In his review, Collider’s Ross Bonaime described Black Bag as “yet another example that Soderbergh can basically make any genre his own, and thrive in it.” The movie is written by David Koepp, who also wrote Presence, and Soderbergh’s 2022 thriller Kimi, starring Zoë Kravitz. Black Bag also features Marisa Abela, Naomie Harris, Tom Burke, Regé-Jean Page, and Pierce Brosnan. It’ll reportedly land on PVOD on April 1, having been given roughly the same kind of theatrical run as Universal’s The Fall Guy last year. You can still watch Black Bag in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Black Bag

Release Date

March 14, 2025

Director

Steven Soderbergh

Writers

David Koepp