The recent resurgence of Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson’s animated sports comedy has continued one of Netflix‘s most fascinating and most pleasant movie trends further into 2026. Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson are two of the more famous actors that audiences will be aware of today, though notably not for their animated roles.
Ryan Reynolds has had several high-profile roles in the past decade or two which have cemented his stardom, including perhaps most crucially that of Deadpool, who the actor played first for the Fox X-Men timeline, and then as part of the MCU thanks to Deadpool & Wolverine. Samuel L. Jackson has his own share of major franchise roles – having appeared as Nick Fury in the MCU and Mace Windu in Star Wars – but is also one of the most famous actors in history even outside of these castings because of the quality and size of his film legacy.
As such, the knowledge these two actors played crucial roles in one 2010s animated comedy that has hit the Netflix charts more than a decade after its initial release is on some levels unsurprising – though on some levels it’s truly very surprising, if only because plenty of people likely don’t know the two interacted on-screen as the voices of two snails who love the world of racing.
Turbo Just Entered Netflix’s Most-Watched Movie Charts 13 Years After Its Debut
Turbo first debuted back in 2013, bringing a decidedly unique animated sports comedy movie to life, with Ryan Reynolds in its lead role. Reynolds played Theo, also known as “Turbo”, who spent the film fighting to make his dream of competing as a professional racer reality, despite the obvious challenges that being a garden snail presents him both in terms of his initial speed, and his size.
Throughout the course of its run, Turbo reveals itself to have a decidedly star-studded cast, with Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, and even Snoop Dogg playing key roles in its story. However, the biggest actor that appears in the film is that of Samuel L. Jackson, who plays the role of Whiplash, another snail who becomes a key ally to Turbo over the course of the narrative.
The distinctive premise and impressive cast of Turbo both look as though they may have gone some way to help build its new heights in 2026, as the animated movie did rise to become the eighth most-watched English language movie that audiences sought out in the week of June 22-28 (as per Netflix). Interestingly, this continues one often surreal seeming but undeniably positive trend that platforms like Netflix have made reality time and time again.
Turbo’s Netflix Success Continues A Delightful Streaming Trend
While plenty of older animated movies fall into disregard after their initial theatrical run, streaming has made revivals in popularity for these films all the more possible, since audiences can seek out such releases on platforms like Netflix rather than needing to pay for a specific DVD or for home streaming access in order to watch such a movie.
Turbo‘s success here is a prime example of just that, since it’s something of a less well-known animated movie that isn’t part of a goliath franchise the way many of streaming’s most popular animated films have historically been. That said, Turbo isn’t June’s only example of this for Netflix, since Bee Movie also saw a similar resurgence in popularity earlier in the month, 19 years after its own original 2007 theatrical debut.
Though much focus is placed on newer releases on streaming and on Netflix, this shows one of the unique ways these platforms can affect the lifespans and overall trajectories of some movies and shows that don’t come under this umbrella – and provide a second life of sorts for films that experienced their initial results a considerable number of years ago.