Robert De Niro's 2025 Gangster Movie Box Office Bomb Is Now A Worldwide Streaming Sensation

4 days ago 10

Robert De Niro at the European Premiere of The Alto Knights

Adam Bentz is a senior news writer at ScreenRant, where he has authored nearly 5,000 articles, including features and lists. He studied creative writing and English with a concentration in screenwriting at Southern New Hampshire University and interned as a writer/journalist for The Borgen Project, an influential organization that fights global poverty.

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After bombing at the box office, The Alto Knights is now a worldwide streaming sensation. The 2025 crime drama stars Robert De Niro in a dual role but, unlike some of his greatest gangster movies – from Goodfellas (1990) to The Godfather Part II (1974) – The Alto Knights was a massive critical and commercial disappointment.

Now, nine months later, The Alto Knights ranks ninth on HBO Max's Top 10 movies in the world for today, January 8, per FlixPatrol. It finished above River Wild in 10th place and ranks below The Edge of Seventeen, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, Split, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, How to Train Your Dragon 2, How to Train Your Dragon, and One Battle After Another at No. 1.

For this week, The Alto Knights is on HBO Max's Top 10 in 18 countries, located primarily in Europe (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Spain) with one country, Pakistan, located in South Asia.

The Alto Knights is streaming on HBO Max and Prime Video in the United States.

Directed by Oscar winner Barry Levinson (Rain Man), with a script written by Oscar nominee Nicholas Pileggi (Goodfellas), The Alto Knights stars Robert De Niro in a dual role as notorious 1950s mob bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello as they vie for control of New York City's streets.

Other than Robert De Niro, The Alto Knights cast also includes Emmy winner Debra Messing (Will & Grace), Cosmo Jarvis (Shōgun), Kathrine Narducci (The Sopranos), Michael Rispoli (The Sopranos), Ed Amatrudo, James Ciccone (The Deuce), Wallace Langham, Belmont Cameli, Louis Mustillo, and Matt Servitto (The Sopranos).

The Alto Knights received mixed reviews from critics, who called it a capable yet weary rehash of familiar gangster-film clichés that sets Robert De Niro against himself, but ultimately delivers no clear winner, resulting in a disappointing 40% Rotten Tomatoes score.

On the other hand, audiences have enjoyed The Alto Knights much more than critics, indicated by its 71% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, who believe the film functions as a moderately entertaining homage to classic mob movies by emphasizing drama rather than action.

Still, The Alto Knights was a massive box-office bomb that made only $9 million worldwide against its approximate $45–50 million budget, and it's estimated that Warner Bros. lost around $30–35 million as a result. However, likely driven by the sheer star power of a dual Robert De Niro, The Alto Knights has found new life streaming on HBO Max.