Dakota Fanning’s Overlooked Sci-Fi Thriller Is About To Lose Its Free Streaming Home

Right in the midst of Dakota Fanning enjoying a major career resurgence, one of her most overlooked thrillers is now about to lose its free streaming home.

Hailing from Lucky Number Slevin's Paul McGuigan, Push starred Fanning as 13-year-old Cassie Holmes, who is the daughter of the most powerful psychic who has been a prisoner of the mysterious organization known as The Division, dedicated to capturing and transforming those with powers into soldiers. Cassie turns to Chris Evans' Nick, an untrained man with telekinetic powers and a dark past with The Division, to help find a woman possessing a new drug that can change the war between psychics and the agency.

Now, nearly 17 years after the film hit theaters, Push is about to lose its free streaming home. The sci-fi thriller, which has been available on Tubi, will be leaving the platform beginning January 31, leaving its only remaining streaming homes to be on the public library-driven Hoopla and Kanopy.

Also starring Camilla Belle, Djimon Hounsou, Ming-Na Wen and Cliff Curtis, Push was largely dismissed by critics on the film's release, with its plot being deemed as bewildering and borrowing the wrong elements from similar genre fare, such as Heroes and Fringe. While audiences were similarly mixed on the film, pushing it to a $48.9 million box office haul against its $38 million production budget, it has developed something of a cult following in the years since.

Part of the reason for its delayed appreciation is Evans being one of the lead stars of Push. The sci-fi thriller came in the window between his original Marvel efforts with the early 2000s' Fantastic Four movies and his beloved turn as Steve Rogers/Captain America for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In addition to the 2009 film, which had a superhero edge to it, Evans also branched out to DC with the action-comedy The Losers, which has similarly seen a belated audience appreciation, to Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World adaptation.

Push losing its free streaming home of Tubi comes at an interesting point for both Evans and Fanning. After having originally retired as Rogers with Avengers: Endgame, Evans would not only reprise his Johnny Storm role for the multiverse-heavy Deadpool & Wolverine, but is also about to bring Rogers back for Avengers: Doomsday.

For Fanning, she's found herself in the midst of some of the busiest years of her career. In the wake of garnering solid reviews with the period thriller The Alienist, she got to have a Man on Fire reunion with Denzel Washington for The Equalizer 3, as well earning both a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination for Netflix's Ripley. Even more notable is that she and her Oscar-nominated sister Elle formed a production company together, which has produced multiple documentary miniseries and the upcoming Apple TV drama Margo's Got Money Troubles.

With Evans remaining as popular as ever, and Fanning once again a mainstream star, it will be interesting to see if any streaming service looks to acquire the rights to Push after its Tubi exit. Being owned by Lionsgate, Starz seems like the most likely option if the studio looks to put it on a pay-to-watch platform again. However, with it having previously been on a free-streaming platform, the film could also see itself heading anywhere from Prime Video with ads to The Roku Channel. For now, those curious to revisit or watch the film for the first time will have to turn to renting or purchasing it digitally.