Prime Video Revives Russell Crowe's Forgotten Crime Thriller Sleeping Dogs

2025 was a standout year for Russell Crowe, but one of his forgotten crime thrillers from the past few years is finally getting a second chance on streaming. Almost a full year ago, Crowe brought his WWII legal thriller Nuremberg to theaters — the film had been a passion project of Crowe's for years, so much so that director James Vanderbilt said it never would have made it to theaters without his dedication. After grossing around $75 million at the box office, Nuremberg went on to become one of the most-watched movies of 2026 on Netflix, where it still streams today. Crowe has starred in three movies already in 2026, but only his most recent, The Weight (co-starring Ethan Hawke), is proving its worth as a watchable film.

Russell Crowe's other two movies, Beast and The Get Out, didn't make much at the box office before finding moderate success on VOD platforms like Apple TV. Another Russell Crowe-led film that never exactly got its due in theaters came back in 2024 when he teamed up with Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy) for Sleeping Dogs, which eked out only $2 million at the global box office. Sleeping Dogs has had several streaming homes in the years since it scrambled out of theaters, but it wasn't until the film was added to Prime Video in the last week that it finally caught a second wind. The film is currently in the top 10 in more than 15 countries on Prime Video, and it's climbing more by the day as it looks poised to become one of 2026's biggest sleeper hits.

What Is 'Sleeping Dogs' About?

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The official synopsis for Sleeping Dogs, which holds scores of 44% from critics and 79% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, reads as follows: "In this gripping crime thriller, Russell Crowe stars as Roy Freeman, an ex-homicide detective with a fractured memory, forced to revisit a case he can't remember. As a man's life hangs in the balance on death row, Freeman must piece together the brutal evidence from a decade-old murder investigation, uncovering a sinister web of buried secrets and betrayals linking to his past. With only instincts to trust, he faces a chilling truth — sometimes, it's best to let sleeping dogs lie." Sleeping Dogs is based on the novel The Book of Mirrors by E.O. Chirovici, and it was written and directed by Adam Cooper. Sleeping Dogs is not streaming anywhere in America, but it is available to rent or purchase on VOD platforms.