A Liam Neeson thriller that made little impact at the box office is suddenly finding the audience it missed the first time around.

Released in 2023, In the Land of Saints and Sinners earned just $3 million during its theatrical run. Now, several years later, the Irish-set action thriller has emerged as a notable streaming performer, attracting 3.3 million views worldwide on Netflix during the latest week measured.

The renewed interest is giving the relatively overlooked film a second life — and introducing more viewers to a darker, more restrained Neeson performance set against the political violence of 1970s Ireland.

In the Land of Saints and Sinners Surges on Netflix

For viewers looking for a lesser-known entry from Neeson’s extensive action catalogue, In the Land of Saints and Sinners has become increasingly difficult to overlook.

The film pairs Neeson with Kerry Condon and Ciarán Hinds and originally arrived in 2023. Despite its established cast, it struggled to attract a large theatrical audience and finished its box-office run with approximately $3 million.

Its fortunes have changed considerably on streaming.

The movie is available across multiple services, including Prime Video and Netflix, while it can also be watched free on Tubi. Netflix is currently generating the most attention, however, after the platform reported 3.3 million views for the film during its latest measured week.

That performance has turned the older thriller into one of Neeson’s more notable streaming successes at the moment.

What Is In the Land of Saints and Sinners About?

Set in Ireland during the 1970s, In the Land of Saints and Sinners centres on Finbar Murphy, played by Neeson.

Finbar is a man attempting to put a violent past behind him. Seeking a quieter existence, he has settled in the remote coastal town of Glencolmcille, distancing himself from the political violence affecting other parts of the country.

For a time, he succeeds in building the peaceful life he wanted.

That changes when a group of terrorists arrives in the town.

The group is led by Doirean, played by Kerry Condon, whose presence places Finbar in an increasingly dangerous situation and threatens the life he has worked to create.

As tensions escalate, Finbar becomes trapped in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

He is eventually confronted with a difficult choice: protect the quiet existence he has established by keeping his secret identity hidden, or reveal who he really is and stand up for the people around him.

Strong Reviews Despite Its Modest Box Office

Robert Lorenz directed In the Land of Saints and Sinners from a screenplay written by Mark Michael McNally and Terry Loane.

Although audiences largely overlooked the movie during its theatrical release, critical reception was considerably stronger than its box-office performance might suggest.

The film currently holds an 83% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, alongside a 74% audience score.

Its arrival in front of a much larger streaming audience therefore offers another opportunity for the thriller to find viewers who missed it in cinemas.

Liam Neeson Continues to Mix Action With Other Genres

The renewed success arrives as Neeson, now approaching 75, has begun to slow his working pace somewhat while continuing to appear in prominent projects spanning action, comedy and thriller territory.

Last year, he starred alongside Pamela Anderson and Paul Walter Hauser in The Naked Gun.

The action comedy became one of the year’s notable performers in the genre, earning more than $100 million worldwide at the box office. That made it one of the relatively small number of Neeson-led action movies to cross the $100 million mark.

Its success continued after the theatrical run, with The Naked Gun becoming a significant streaming performer following its move to Paramount Plus.

More recently, Neeson appeared opposite Stranger Things star Joe Keery in the science-fiction horror thriller Cold Storage.

That film received a limited theatrical release and earned approximately $4 million before moving to streaming on Amazon MGM+.

An Older Neeson Thriller Gets Another Chance

Against that backdrop, the sudden popularity of In the Land of Saints and Sinners demonstrates how streaming can dramatically change the trajectory of a movie that initially struggled to find a substantial theatrical audience.

Its $3 million box-office result made the film easy to miss when it was first released. Its latest Netflix numbers tell a very different story.

With 3.3 million views in a single measured week, the 2023 thriller is now reaching millions of viewers while offering Neeson fans another entry from his action career to discover.

In the Land of Saints and Sinners is available to stream on Netflix, with additional availability through Prime Video and Tubi.