Cash-strapped Warner Bros. has been doing everything in its power to try and trim the budget as much as possible, which has proven to be a huge bonus for Netflix after the company swooped in to secure the distribution rights to some of HBO’s biggest-ever originals.
While Issa Rae’s Insecure got the distinction of being the first to stream on the rival platform, it was quickly overshadowed by the news that Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ World War II classic Band of Brothers was next. If that wasn’t enough, then the biggest star in the business is next on the agenda, with Dwayne Johnson’s Ballers confirmed for an August 15 rollout.
The five-season sports drama stands out as not just the first and only recurring small screen role of The Rock’s career, but one of the very few times since he hit the A-list that he’s actually shelved his tried-and-trusted persona in favor of doing some genuine acting. He’s pretty damned good at it, too, which makes you wonder why he’s so content to essentially keep churning out the exact same blockbuster formula over and over again.
As the star of Netflix’s most-watched original movie of all-time – never mind the fact the interminably average Skyscraper recently ended up as one of its biggest hits – then there’s no other outcome than Ballers winding up as one of, if not the single top-viewed TV series this time next month once it’s being beamed onto the devices of subscribers in the United States and other international markets.