Jennifer Garner's Biggest Movie Flop From 2018 Just Became a Hit on Netflix

There are some celebrities who we fall in love with the moment we see them on screen. For Jennifer Garner, she's played some of our favorite roles and she's been around for a long time. But, that doesn't mean her work history isn't without its flops. 

One of her biggest movie bombs ever just recently hit the streaming catalogue of Netflix and surprisingly found a new audience who loved it. So, will there be a Peppermint 2 now? Here's what we know.

Jennifer Garner has played a whole range of people over the years in her career as an actor. She's played comedy, drama, action, and has generally done really well in all of them. That's likely why it was such a surprise when Peppermint came out — because it was just not good. 

The 2018 movie, made by STX Films and Lakeshore Entertainment, featured Jennifer playing an action role, returning to a similar feel as her tv show Alias. In the movie, which takes place five years after her character's husband and daughter are killed "in a senseless act of violence," Jennifer's character, Riley, comes back from exile where she spent her time grieving. Her hope was to seek revenge on the people who killed her loved ones, as well as on the system that let those people walk free.

It sounds like a great idea for a movie. It's got all the drama that people like from the grief left after the unexpected death of people close to the main character, to a righteous fight against others for the better of everyone.

The problem with the movie seems to come from the fact that many details of the story are left out. The film is full of flashbacks, likely to get the viewer to feel for the loss of her family. In that time, she was a typical working mom who had a job as a bank teller. 

But, somehow in the time between the death of her family and the time she went back to the city, she became an expert assassin. She somehow becomes super versed in hand-to-hand combat, is an expert in weapons, and has all the energy needed to take down an entire system. 

According to Forbes, it wasn't only the storyline that turned people off of the movie. The publication writes, "Ironically, the film’s muddy visuals makes it look less like a glossy Hollywood flick and more like a straight-to-VOD action movie, the kind of  which are currently doing quite well by Netflix."

So, if the first movie did so horribly (and was criticized as being racist and anti-immigrant), why are people even wondering if a second is going to be made? Well, it's precisely because it is doing well on Netflix right now. The 2018 movie debuted on Netflix in December 2020 — and became a fast hit. 

Since hitting the streaming service, Peppermint has risen to the top three titles on the platform. The renewed interest in the film has people wondering if there will be a Peppermint 2. Back when it was first released, it didn't appear that there were direct plans for a sequel, however there were enough loose ends left that a sequel could pick up and continue the story.

At the film's Los Angeles premiere, Jennifer's long-time stunt double, Shauna Duggins, even alluded to a desire for the movie to become a full franchise. "Don’t we all dream that it can be? Absolutely,” she said. “I mean, look at Taken. It was phenomenal and then they did two more. Jen can pull it off, obviously.”

However, Shauna was the only movie insider who directly referenced wanting a sequel, though the director, Pierre Morel, who also helmed Taken, has been accused of trying — and failing — to start a franchise with Peppermint. 

So for anyone who is hopeful that a second Peppermint will be made, there is still a possibility it could happen, particularly with the renewed interest in it — though no plans have been made yet.