Rami Malek’s $60 million spy thriller finds success as a streaming hit on Prime Video.

Winning an Oscar can catapult an actor into the spotlight, but it doesn’t always guarantee box office success. Rami Malek discovered this after his standout role in *Bohemian Rhapsody*, the blockbuster that grossed over $900 million and earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, seemingly setting him up for a stellar film career. However, his subsequent projects have had a mixed reception. He portrayed a James Bond villain in the hit *No Time to Die* and appeared as a nuclear physicist in Christopher Nolan’s *Oppenheimer*, but not all his roles have resonated. He was part of the ensemble cast in the 1930s murder mystery *Amsterdam*, which, despite its star power, only managed to pull in just over $30 million globally. More recently, he starred alongside Russell Crowe in *Nuremberg*, playing U.S. Army psychiatrist Douglas Kelley, who evaluates Nazi leaders post-World War II. While the historical drama performed decently, it didn’t achieve blockbuster status.

Malek’s last leading role was in a 2025 spy thriller that aimed to transform him into an unconventional action hero. It grossed under $100 million worldwide during its theatrical run, but over a year later, the film is getting a second chance on streaming. *The Amateur* is currently the No. 2 movie on Prime Video in the U.S., according to FlixPatrol, and has spent 21 days in the platform’s top 10, indicating that Malek’s latest lead may have finally found its audience.

Based on Robert Littell’s 1981 novel, *The Amateur* features Malek as Charlie Heller, a brilliant but introverted CIA decoder whose wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan), is killed in a terrorist attack in London. When his superiors refuse to investigate, he resorts to blackmailing the agency for the training and resources needed to track down his wife’s killers himself.

Though his character lacks field experience and struggles with the physical demands of the job, he uses his intelligence to create intricate plans to hunt down his enemies. It’s a revenge fantasy that explores what happens when the tech-savvy individual behind the scenes is thrust into the role of an action hero—essentially an IT worker’s journey to becoming a Liam Neeson-style hero.

This fresh take on the spy-thriller genre, with Malek’s unconventional hero at its center, gives *The Amateur* much of its charm, even if it didn’t set the box office on fire.

Shifting gears, Malek’s latest project sees him stepping away from action. He stars in Ira Sachs’ *The Man I Love*, a musical fantasy set in late-1980s New York that premiered at Cannes earlier this year. In this film, Malek plays Jimmy George, a performance artist living with AIDS, alongside Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall, Luther Ford, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach.

However, *The Amateur*’s resurgence in popularity could reignite interest in Malek as an action star. A year after its underwhelming theatrical performance, audiences are finally tuning in to his unique interpretation of the genre. Whether this newfound attention leads to more action roles for the actor remains to be seen.