The Walking Dead Loses Its #1 Spot on the Streaming Charts to Breaking Bad Star's Forgotten Space Horror Movie

The Walking Dead: Dead City has been dethroned on AMC+ by a space horror film that flopped at the box office earlier this year. According to FlixPatrol's streaming charts, Ash, the directorial debut from musician Flying Lotus, has claimed the top spot on AMC+ in the United States, bumping the zombie spinoff down to second place after a 69-day run at number one.

Perhaps it's nostalgia among AMC viewers that attracts them to Ash. The film stars AMC and Breaking Bad alum Aaron Paul alongside Eiza González in a story following an astronaut who awakens with no memory on a research station filled with its dead crew. Released theatrically on March 21, 2025, the sci-fi horror film grossed a measly $1.1 million worldwide despite featuring the Breaking Bad star, but is now finding its audience.

Aaron Paul and Flying Lotus' Box Office Flop Thrives on Streaming

The Film is Finally Living Up to its Positive Reviews

The box-office disaster earned just $689,144 across 1,136 theaters during its opening weekend, falling far short of its projected $2 million haul. Critics were kinder than audiences, giving Ash a 72% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 86 reviews. Amazon MGM Studios paid approximately $10 million for international distribution rights at the February 2024 European Film Market. RLJE Films and Shudder handled the U.S. release before the film landed on AMC+.

Dead City had dominated AMC+ for over two months before losing its crown to the indie thriller. For the musician-turned-filmmaker behind Ash, the film was a dream come true. Lotus, real name Steven Ellison, shot the film at a former door manufacturing plant in New Zealand, using CGI effects he learned from YouTube tutorial videos. He'd also lend his best-known talent, music, to the score, which he composed in its entirety. In discussion with Filmmaker Magazine, he gushed about the process, saying, "I’m grateful for this experience, making this, and I’d be honored to do another," adding, "The big takeaway here, end of the day, was that filmmaking is the most creatively rewarding process for me."

Aaron Paul's starring role might not be the only sweetener for Ash. The rest of the Top 10 list reveals AMC+ subscribers' appetite for genre content, with horror titles Hell Motel and crime thriller Dark Winds also ranking in the top 10. Folks can stream all the aforementioned on the platform now.