Desert Warrior
Directed by Rupert Wyatt
In 7th-century Arabia, Princess Hind becomes a warrior to defy the ruthless Emperor Kisra. Forged into a warrior and aided by legendary bandit Hanzala, Hind unites warring tribes for a last stand—the historic Battle of Dhi Qar—that will change history. From TMDB
86 reactions from 4 sources (Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy, TMDB reviews) · newest Oct 15, 2026 · last updated Oct 15, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
Sentiment labels for these sources are still being hand-checked; no score yet.
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bluesky * | 3 | 3 | 19 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| TMDB reviews * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
55 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
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Critics, per Wikipedia
Desert Warrior was released in 1,010 theatres in North America. It made just $472,111 in its opening weekend (a $467 per theatre average), becoming one of the worst domestic openings in history for a major film. The Saudi-backed film grossed $87,000 in Saudi Arabia in its opening weekend, ranking it at eighth in the country's box office. Across the Middle East, the film earned $227,000. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 25% of 24 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Narratively bloated, yet emotionally hollow, Desert Warrior's trite storytelling and uninspired performances consistently undermine its impressive…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 86 · most liked first‘DESERT WARRIOR’ is tracking to be one of the biggest box office flops of all time. The Saudi Arabia-funded film has earned $488K so far on a $150M budget.
neutral · AI labelView post →'Desert Warrior' starring Anthony Mackie grossed $488K in its domestic opening weekend • Saudi Arabia-funded film with a production budget of $150M • On track to be one of the biggest box office flops ever
neutral · AI labelView post →Anthony Mackie's "Desert Warrior" set to be one of the biggest box office flops of the year.
neutral · AI labelView post →Anthony Mackie's "Desert Warrior" has been pulled from theaters after making only $695,564 — the film had a budget of $150 million. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt13570066/
neutral · AI labelView post →You’ve heard of BIG MOVIE But have you heard of Desert Warrior, the Biggest Box Office Bomb of 2026 already? New Video: youtu.be/PsWrNjiAsxc?...
neutral · AI labelView post →Check out @denizarsllan.bsky.social latest review. This time he is covering Saudi production Desert Warrior (2025) starring Anthony Mackie and Ben Kingsley. 🎬 #filmsky #moviesky #cinema moremovies.co.uk/desert-warri...
neutral · AI labelView post →Okay, it is still REALLY strange that Anthony Mackie is attached to a movie that I only JUST learned about and is making headlines for being a critical and commercial flop (Desert Warrior), but he's still an awesome man.
neutral · AI labelView post →‘Desert Warrior’ Deserted? Why Anthony Mackie’s Troubled Saudi Epic Failed To Rally Cinemagoers In U.S. & Middle East.
neutral · AI labelView post →Obscure YT of the day: Legend Enzo G. Casterelli (KEOMO, INGLORIOUS BASTARDS, 1990: BRONX WARRIORS) makes an exciting historic action film about an Arabic warrior -- played by All-American Mark Harmon (!!) - in 1984s TAUREG- THE DESERT WARRIOR! Aldo Sambrell costars! www.youtube.com/watch?v=A07X...
neutral · AI labelView post →DESERT WARRIOR (2025) Streaming: May 26, 2026 PVOD (Apple, Amazon, Fandango at Home, etc.) #DesertWarrior whentostream.com/desert-warri...
neutral · AI labelView post →Hey. Could someone explain why the film commentariat is going all anti 'SEO' to take shots at a national vanity project like DESERT WARRIOR that was barely released in 1,000 theatres (aka wide) sans anything like notable marketing spend? I am confused.
neutral · AI labelView post →What robot is this, it is familiar (from the awful movie Desert Warrior)
negative · AI labelView post →Anthony Mackie's "Desert Warrior" has been pulled from theaters after making only $695,564 — the film had a budget of $150 million. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt13570066/
neutral · AI labelView post →The HATE watch begins Desert Warrior- so far a movie of so MANY cuts
neutral · AI labelView post →Enjoyed this way more than I should, plot is thinly absurd to say the least, but oh boy this is one beautifully shot film, with incredible care taken time and again, and with some superb battle scenes. Worth watching for these reasons 😎. ‘Desert Warrior’ (2025)
positive · AI labelView post →In my latest film review, I examine how 'Desert Warrior' became a magnificent mirage - an authentic history written, directed, and led by outsiders with zero organic connection to the culture. #FilmReview #Hollywood #SaudiCinema www.patreon.com/SiyaMchunu/p...
negative · AI labelView post →DESERT WARRIOR arrived in theaters last weekend. You'd be forgiven for not noticing. I hardly did and I cover box office professionally. Rather quietly though, this $150 million blockbuster has asserted itself as one of the biggest box office bombs ever. www.slashfilm.com/2160537/anth...
neutral · AI labelView post →You may have missed this, as I did, but a film called Desert Warrior, backed by Saudi money, cost $150 million to make and took less than half a million in its opening weekend in the US recently, making it the worst domestic opening ever. It only just about scraped into the Saudi Top 10 too.
neutral · AI labelView post →I remember hearing about the majority of those. With that said I have never heard of this Desert Warrior movie and the only reason I know about Elevation is that on a rainy night my wife was hosting a women’s night so I had to de ass the area and went to the a theater to see any movie and Elevation was showing. It was fine and clearly trying to set up a franchise.
neutral · AI labelView post →Movie for the afternoon "Desert Warrior" #AMCTheatres #movielovers #movielover
neutral · AI labelView post →Desert Warrior (Movie) is visually stunning and culturally fascinating. Highly recommend.
positive · AI labelView post →What is the biggest box office flop of all time? The debate has been settled, in my estimation. DESERT WARRIOR made less than $1 million worldwide on a $150 million budget. Direct-to-video action movies regularly have more awareness. A truly colossal failure. www.slashfilm.com/2190938/bigg...
neutral · AI labelView post →Huh, so this is what that "Desert Warrior" movie is: www.vulture.com/article/dese...
neutral · AI labelView post →WOW! They remade the movie Michael, that John Travolta movie where he's an angel. Why they turned him into an 80's pop star, I don't know. This week's Cinema Playground Journal watches that, Mother Mary, Over Your Dead Body, and Desert Warrior. mst3krifftrax.blogspot.com/2026/04/cine...
neutral · AI labelView post →Quick News: Martin McDonagh's "Wild Horse Nine" sets a release date; "Desert Warrior," "I Want Your Sex" & "Josephine" acquired; killer hippo film "Hungry" first photo; Sean Baker's next is a homage to 60s-70s Italian sex comedies. www.darkhorizons.com/quick-news-h...
neutral · AI labelView post →Oh my Anthony Mackey is a Muslim. Probably any half wit GOP idiot who stumbles across the movie Desert Warrior
neutral · AI labelView post →I do love Enzo Castellari as a director of Italian genre brilliance but TUAREG: DESERT WARRIOR stretched my tolerance. AKA Mark Harmon as a Brownface Rambo. I reckon he and Sean Connery (from the superior Wind & the Lion) compared experiences playing Bedouin warriors when they made the Presidio.
negative · AI labelView post →I know that the Desert Warrior movie was a flop, but they should make it a $5bn open world hero shooter MMO
neutral · AI labelView post →Perfect distributor for a genre film that’ll make bank on video / streaming; but wanting the extra exposure theatrical release brings. Not if your film is an Oscar hopeful. Or in the case of Desert Warrior recently: meant to put your nation on the filmmaking radar.
neutral · AI labelView post →Just watched Desert Warrior with Anthony Mackie. Possibly the GOAT movie.
positive · AI labelView post →They are saying that DESERT WARRIOR is tanking but I didn't see that big a push for the film. I will say that most of the people I know who saw it loved it
unlabelledView post →I haven’t walked out of a movie in twenty-one years. I had a real good streak going. I walked out of Desert Warrior
unlabelledView post →"Desert Warrior would also be the inaugural movie project to shoot at Neom Media, a state-of-the-art, multibazillion-dollar media complex and studio backlot attached to Neom City, a metropolis bordering the Red Sea." www.vulture.com/article/dese...
unlabelledView post →Not sure about this headline, but: “‘There’s No Audience for This Movie After the Israel-Hamas War’ Desert Warrior was supposed to be the first Saudi blockbuster, not a $150 million flop.” archive.md/A97Om
unlabelledView post →“In a final you-can’t-make-this-shit-up development, Desert Warrior — in which Arab heroes rise up against villains from the Persian empire — reached North American movie theaters at a time when audiences want to see anything but more desert warfare.”
unlabelledView post →I appreciate that so many screens lets me see something *other* than the giant hit film that everyone wants to see. AMC A*List gets me into four films a week for $20 a month. I'll see 3 films tomorrow, Desert Warrior, I Swear and Over Your Dead Body.
unlabelledView post →New @cityweekly.bsky.social reviews of this week's theatrical and streaming releases: MOTHER MARY; MICHAEL; APEX; I SWEAR; DESERT WARRIOR; OVER YOUR DEAD BODY; ORANGUTAN. www.cityweekly.net/film/film-re...
unlabelledView post →Adam Vaughn reviews DESERT WARRIOR filmfestivaltoday.com/film-reviews... #filmsky
unlabelledView post →The film "Desert Warrior" was just released—coincidentally on our daughter Clara's birthday. She was on the crew of this film in Saudi Arabia, working as director Rupert Wyatt’s assistant. Here's a link to the trailer. tinyurl.com/z73xmeev
unlabelledView post →New movies in Memphis, 4/24: MICHAEL (the Michael Jackson movie); David Lowery's MOTHER MARY (with Anne Hathaway and Michaela Cole); DESERT WARRIOR (Saudi-produced historical action epic with Anthony Mackie); FUZE (suspense from director David 'Hell or High Water' Mackenzie) 1/3
unlabelledView post →Desert Warrior follows a lot of tropes but is it at least a decent movie. youtu.be/Y0ALsI4HXX8 #DesertWarrior #AnthonyMackie #MovieEmporium
unlabelledView post →DESERT WARRIOR: Anthony Mackie Fights To Protect A Princess And Lead A Rebellion In The Official Trailer filmcombatsyndicate.com/desert-warri...
unlabelledView post →Anthony Mackie’s Long-Delayed Saudi Arabia Blockbuster ‘Desert Warrior’ Set for Zurich World Premiere Saudi Arabia’s first Hollywood-style tentpole movie “Desert Warrior,” starring Anthony Mackie, is finally set to bow at Zurich Film Festival following a long gestation. The period ac… #media #news
unlabelledView post →Desert Warrior is a terrible movie.
unlabelledView post →Just noticed that - Desert Warrior - has been released in the UK on Disney+ Not surprising it had little to no advertising given how disastrous the film performed at the Box Office.
unlabelledView post →Desert Warrior watched. 1/5 Definitely another one of the weakest films that Anthony Mackie has starred in this decade. This movie is almost as bad as The Electric State (another movie that Mackie starred in this decade). And it certainly ain’t no Lawrence of Arabia either.
unlabelledView post →Movie TV Tech Geeks #MovieNews #Hulu #DesertWarrior #AnthonyMackie The New 'Captain America's Answer to 'Mad Max' Is a Surprise Hulu Hit http://dlvr.it/TVM5fH
unlabelledView post →Saw “Desert Warrior” This Weekend With Anthony Mackie and Aiysha Hart; Wonderful Film! Desert Warrior is a period film dealing with the 7th-century pre-Islamic Arabia and the Sassanid Empire. A number of period battle scenes along with views of the life and times of that era. Wonderful Film! 🙂
unlabelledView post →Disney+ movie time. Desert Warrior R 2025 ‧ Action/Drama ‧ 2h 6m www.imdb.com/title/tt1357...
unlabelledView post →Just watched Tuareg: Desert Warrior (1984) and rated it 2 stars on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/conanriquelme/film/tuareg-desert-warrior/ #FilmSky 📽️🎥
unlabelledView post →Movie TV Tech Geeks #MovieNews #AnthonyMackie #DesertWarrior Anthony Mackie’s $150M Historical Epic Is Finally Getting a Second Chance http://dlvr.it/TTWZCm
unlabelledView post →The (movie) Desert Warrior 4K (iTunes)(US) $14.99 (History) (iMDB) 5.7 Cast: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley, Ghassan Massoud, Sharlto Copley, Sami Bouajila
unlabelledView post →The (movie) Desert Warrior (Vudu) (US) for $14.99 Cast: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley, Ghassan Massoud, Sharlto Copley, Sami Bouajila Genre: (History) Trailer & Reviews : www.rottentomatoes.com/m/desert_war...
unlabelledView post →Has there been anything good written about Saudi Arabia's push into the movie business? I kind of dismissed HOKUM, DESERT WARRIOR, and IN THE GREY coming out in rapid succession because the latter two were delayed, but 7 DOGS coming out here a week after UNIDENTIFIED is something.
unlabelledView post →Remember when Desert Warrior (a Saudi Arabia funded movie) became the biggest box office bomb? The Saudis would brush Desert Warrior's BO disaster under the rug and focus on approving the pointless merger
unlabelledView post →"You told me we shared a common enemy." "I told you: honor is for fools." —Desert Warrior (2025 film)
unlabelledView post →Holy shit “Desert Warrior” is a bad movie! Hope Mackie and Kingsley didn’t sign up for residuals.
unlabelledView post →Desert Warrior (2025) is set “1500 years ago” in Arabia, “where tribes fight over territory and water.” And where everybody speaks English. I can only imagine how much more fighting there would have been if each tribe had its own language or dialect. According to the opening intertitles, “In a bid to take control[,] Emperor Kisra II of the Sassanid Empire demands all tribal Kings [sic] turn over their daughters as concubines. Those [sic] that refuse are hunted into harsh desert where only the…
unlabelledView post →So much money, so little to show for it. Obviously this movie looks great. Piles of money has been shoveled at it, but mere budget does doesn't make a good movie. And this is pretty dull. I am surprised at the lack of magnetism from the lead and the supporting cast isn't doing much to help him. Overall it's just pretty drab and the excitement feels very forced when it appears. I can't in good conscience recommend this, but I can't give it lower than five because of how good it actually looks…
neutral · AI labelView post →Film break! A sword-and-sandals film retelling the story of the 7th-century Battle of Dhi Qar, "Desert Warrior" yearns to be epic, but is overrun with clichés. Here's my candid, detailed review: planetdave.com/2026/05/film... #film #movies #DesertWarrior
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