Billy Bob Thornton’s R-Rated Western Classic Is Officially One Of The Biggest Movies In The US

Published Oct 6, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more. Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics." Billy Bob Thornton is one of the many stars who appear in this hit Western movie that has not only become a classic of the genre, but is also experiencing a resurgence on streaming in the United States years later. Thornton's list of best movies and TV shows features a few noteworthy releases from the Western genre. The actor has gained millions of fans in recent years for leading one of Taylor Sheridan's many hit TV shows, the neo-Western series about oil Landman on Paramount+. He gives life to Tommy Norris, with Sheridan writing all episodes of Landman across two seasons so far. Their partnership on TV started a few years before Landman's release, with Thornton joining one of Sheridan's bona fide Westerns as part of the creator's fan-favorite Yellowstone TV show franchise. Thornton played Marshal Jim Courtright in the Yellowstone prequel series 1883. Also on the cast of that show was Sam Elliott, playing one of the show's main characters, Shea Brennan. Elliott and Thornton were both in an R-rated Western classic, Tombstone, which was released in theaters in 1993. Now, Thornton is seeing the movie he played Johnny Tyler in rise once again as an MGM+ streaming sensation in the United States. Thornton's Tombstone Is Shooting Up MGM+'s Top 10 According to data from FlixPatrol, Tombstone has become the 9th most-watched movie or TV show on MGM+'s Top 10 Overall list, from the Amazon Channels, in the United States. Tombstone first entered the chart on Monday, October 5, ranking 10th on the list nationwide. As such, the Western movie has already climbed a spot in one day. Behind the Thornton films is now Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, closing the list. Tombstone holds a strong 76% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 49 reviews. Better than that is the Western's near-perfect 93% audience score based on over 100,000 reviews. Tombstone's immense success with viewers is surely impacting its hot run on MGM+ in the United States, especially since the 1993 film is having to go up against both movies and TV shows on the chart, including multiple recent hits. Right now, some of the projects standing above Tombstone on the MGM+ chart in the US are Titus Welliver's The Westies, the hit horror series From, Kit Harington's new historical drama A Tale of Two Cities, and Jon Hamm's crime drama American Hostage. Besides Thornton, Tombstone also features names like Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Bill Paxton, Stephen Lang, Michael Rooker, and more. Thornton Remains A Staple Star In The Western Genre Via MovieStillsDB Through Sheridan's neo-Western series Landman on Paramount+, Thornton continues to be a staple of the genre, this time as the project's ultimate star. Landman is frequently a top performer for Paramount+. For both of the show's seasons that have been released thus far, Landman holds a solid 80% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the fact that the Landman season 2 finale aired all the way back on January 18, the neo-Western series is still trending on Paramount+ in Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, according to data from FlixPatrol as Tombstone continues Thornton's streaming success. Release Date December 25, 1993 Runtime 130 minutes Director George P. Cosmatos Writers Kevin Jarre Producers Bob Misiorowski, James Jacks, Sean Daniel