Netflix Adds Sacrifice, Starring Chris Evans and Anya Taylor-Joy

Sacrifice, starring Chris Evans and Anya Taylor-Joy, is now streaming on Netflix. The film arrived on Friday, October 16, according to ComingSoon and SlashFilm.

A Charity Gala Turns Into a Hostage Crisis

Directed by Romain Gavras, who co-wrote the screenplay with Will Arbery, the film follows Mike Tyler (Evans), an insecure movie star with a fading career. He attends a charity gala on a Greek island, where a cult led by Joan (Taylor-Joy) takes the guests hostage. Joan claims three people must be sacrificed to a nearby volcano within three days to prevent an extinction-level event, according to ComingSoon.

FandomWire describes the event as a glamorous climate charity gala in Greece and the film as a dark satire about celebrities, billionaires and a cult that believes the world is about to end. Joan is the fierce leader of a radical doomsday group, and Gavras told Netflix’s Tudum that he has admired Taylor-Joy since The Witch and believed she could make the character strong and vulnerable at the same time.

The Ensemble Around the Leads

Vincent Cassel plays Ben Bracken and Salma Hayek plays his wife Gloria. John Malkovich, Sam Richardson, Ambika Mod, Charli XCX and Yung Lean also appear. SlashFilm describes the film as an off-beat mix of action, comedy and drama that moves from satire into a quest story, and compares its premise to Joe Versus the Volcano.

Behind the camera, The Viewer’s Guide lists Matias Boucard as cinematographer and Surkin as composer, with Will Arbery and Gavras credited as writers. FandomWire gives the runtime as 101 minutes, while another listing says 103, so the figure varies by source.

A Rough Start in Toronto

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2025, and Netflix acquired U.S. and French rights in May 2026, according to ComingSoon. SlashFilm says festival audiences were not enthusiastic, though it praises the on-location visuals and Evans’s “innate dorkiness,” a phrase it attributes to Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri.

World of Reel reported during the festival that, despite a handful of screenings, the film generated nothing but brutal word of mouth. It later said the film earned a 37% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which made it the worst-reviewed premiere at that year’s festival. Inverse noted the same 37% figure and argued that many critics felt the film squandered its satirical premise, though its own writer took a more generous view of the film.

How Netflix Came to the Project

What’s on Netflix reported, citing Deadline, that the streamer scooped up the U.S. rights after the festival premiere, and the acquisition was reported on May 22, 2026, about nine months after the Toronto debut. Pulse Analysis adds that the deal was brokered by CAA Media Finance and that Evans and Taylor-Joy are among the film’s executive producers, which it reads as a sign of personal investment in the project. The Mary Sue said Netflix’s decision to move forward despite the lukewarm reception speaks to the power of the cast.

Gavras has history with the service. What’s on Netflix notes that subscribers know him best for Athena, the 2022 action film that made him a name outside France. The National Herald adds that he is the son of the Greek filmmaker Costa-Gavras.

Where It Was Filmed

The National Herald reports that Sacrifice was filmed in Greece, Bulgaria and Iceland and describes it as a comedy-adventure. That mix of locations supports the film’s volcanic imagery, and SlashFilm singles out the on-location visuals as one of its strengths.

What Critics Are Saying Now

With the film available to a wide audience, a new round of reviews has begun, and the verdicts are mostly unfavorable. TheWrap’s review calls the film absurd but not nearly absurd enough, says Taylor-Joy fares better because her character gets to believe in something, and describes the project as a tiresome Netflix original. What’s on Netflix’s review calls it a frustrating satire that begins snarky but hollow and devolves into a mess with plot holes, although it names Taylor-Joy as the film’s most valuable player. JoBlo’s festival review called it a big swing and a miss, describing it as handsome but toothless.

Inverse’s Lyvie Scott has been the outlier. The TIFF review argued the film is better than a standard eco-thriller and praised a fierce and funny Taylor-Joy, and the outlet later described the film as misunderstood and said it was finally getting the release it deserves.

Evans, Cruise and the Movie-Star Premise

SlashFilm opens its report by noting that Evans is once again ready to save the world, and it compares the film with Tom Cruise’s Digger, which it says puts a much more meta twist on the idea of a movie star saving the world. Even so, the site says it is easy to see what attracted Evans to Gavras’s film. Evans’s energy pairs well with Taylor-Joy’s fervent turn, it adds, and the duo’s characters gradually emerge as fitting foils.

Gavras told Tudum that Evans has amazing comedic timing, according to ARY News, which also reported that Netflix released a first look at the actor as Mike Tyler in August. Cinefilos reported that Netflix’s first official trailer confirmed the October 16 date and the cast of Taylor-Joy, Evans, Hayek, Cassel, Mod, Richardson and Malkovich, and What’s on Netflix says the film is streaming in the United States and France.