Kevin Costner's $175M Sci-Fi That Launched A Franchise Officially Releases On Netflix Next Week

Kevin Costner‘s 31-year-old sci-fi traditional is lastly coming to Netflix.

The actor’s film, which price $175 million to make and launched a franchise, formally releases on Netflix late subsequent week. Costner’s well-known movies embody a variety of movies from varied genres, together with sports activities films like Field of Dreams and Westerns like Dances with Wolves. These films have gained him reward from critics alongside a variety of accolades, emphasizing how a lot the assorted tales he stars in are elevated due to their highly effective performances.

Waterworld is not any totally different. Released in 1995, the film follows Costner as The Mariner, a nomad in a post-apocalyptic future the place the ice caps have melted, inflicting the ocean stage to rise by 25,000 ft all all over the world. After saving a lady named Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and a lady named Enola (Tina Majorino), they’re pursued by a bunch of people that imagine Enola may save all of them. Reviews for Waterworld had been combined and it was nominated for Best Sound on the Oscars. It’s additionally notable for being the most expensive film ever made on the time.

Now, Netflix has revealed that Waterworld will likely be arriving on the platform on Friday, May 1, 2026. The Costner-led film will likely be one in every of a batch of recent releases coming to Netflix in that point, together with 13 Going on 30, Bad News Bears, Casino, Hitcher, Jumanjithe Fockers trilogy, The Breakfast Cluband The Land Before Time. Costner’s film stands out due to how huge a launch it was on the time, not solely due to its expensiveness, but in addition due to the franchise it constructed inside its wake.

Following the release of Waterworldthe film ended up spawning a small however notable franchise. This features a novelization written by Max Allan Collins, in addition to a comic book guide sequel sequence, Waterworld: Children of Leviathanlaunched in 1997. Multiple Waterworld video video games had been made for varied online game consoles on the time, in addition to the PC. There have additionally been a number of pinball video games and theme park rides constructed after the film. Needless to say, regardless of its vital reception, the movie nonetheless had an influence, thought of a hit partially due to the excessive gross sales of its tie-in media.

In 2021, it was introduced that Waterworld would get a TV remake headed by Dan Trachtenberg, who’s now best-known for steering the three latest predator movies. However, as of 2025, no work on the sequence has been performed, leaving it in limbo. Luckily, the film’s launch on Netflix will carry the movie to a wider viewers, showcasing one in every of Costner’s earlier films whereas emphasizing what the most costly movie on the time did with its large funds. Even with combined critiques from critics, the movie continues to be a marvel due to its vast scale and journey focus.

The launch of Waterworld on Netflix will put Costner again within the highlight following his departure of the Western TV present Yellowstone and his continued makes an attempt to develop Horizon: An American Sagaa four-part Western movie sequence. Even along with his 1995 sci-fi movie having the reception it does from critics, it was nonetheless a large enough success that, when it arrives on Netflix, it simply would possibly discover renewed life many years later.