Prime Video’s New 8-Part Series Based On A Bestselling Novel Finally Fixes A Star-Studded $61M Box Office Flop

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By

Greg MacArthur

Published Apr 29, 2026, 7:18 PM EDT

Greg is a Lead TV Writer & Critic at Screen Rant with expertise in new streaming releases. He's published over 2800 articles at SR, including weekly recommendation guides and dozens of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. He previously worked in Development at ABC Television & Lawrence Bender Productions.**

Greg majored in Film Production at Chapman University's Dodge College. Greg also has years of broadcast TV production experience at major networks such as NBC, TNT, and ESPN. He currently lives in Greater Boston.

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This new 8-part drama series on Prime **Video is revitalizing a forgotten bestselling novel after its star-studded movie adaptation flopped at the box office more than three decades ago. Not only did the 1993 film – starring Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, Antonio Banderas, and Winona Ryder – only earn $61 million worldwide against a $40 million budget, but it was also critically panned and received a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 32%.

Despite its box office failure, which was felt most of all in the United States and North America, receiving a domestic box office total of roughly $6 million, this forgotten period drama did earn mostly favorable feedback from viewers, as evidenced by its much higher audience score of 71%. Still, with such an incredible slate of award-winning actors and a landmark achievement as its source material, The House of the Spirits_ was destined to be a masterpiece, and Prime Video's new series aims to prove just that.

Prime Video's New 8-Part Series Revitalizes A Forgotten Bestseller

_The House of the Spirits _on Prime Video marks the first telling of the acclaimed 1982 novel of the same name by Isabel Allende in a streaming format. Following its three-episode premiere on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, the series will expand to eight total parts, with episodes 4 and 5 arriving on May 6, and the three-part finale dropping on May 13. Based on the international acclaim of the original novel, The House of the Spirits should be one of Prime Video's top streaming hits this May.

Both the novel and the new streaming adaptation of _The House of the Spirits _tell a generation-spanning tale that takes place over the course of one century. Centering on the Trubea family, the series depicts the social movements and political change of an unidentified South American country, which is modeled after Chilé. The epic family saga portrays three women within the Trubea family: the grandmother, Clara, the daughter, Blanca, and the granddaughter, Alba, who each possess a spiritual, even magical, connection and awareness.

In the first episode of Prime Video's The House of the Spirits, Alba returns to her family home and reads through her grandmother, Clara's, personal journals. Through these diaries, Alba learns how her family came to be and the restrictive forces that opposed all forms of rebellion and revolution, enforced by her own patriarchal grandfather, Esteban. Throughout episodes 2 and 3, viewers discover how Esteban and Clara's marriage initially begins, and how Blanca is born, before Clara unveils a dark web of secrets Esteban has been hiding.

Why The Star-Studded Movie With Meryl Streep Failed 32 Years Ago

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Most viewers would attest that 1993's star-studded film adaptation of The House of the Spirits_ was not as much of a misfire as its RT critic score and box office reception made it seem to be. Even if the film is flawed, it still marks one of Hollywood's most stacked casts in history, making it worth viewing for that reason alone.

A majority of critics at the time, however, thought that the magnificent cast was nearly wasted on such a poorly executed adaptation. Legendary film critic Roger Ebert wrote in 1999, "All of the characters have the right names, all of the necessary events occur, and indeed the very best local actors have been engaged. But the soul has been mislaid," giving the film 2/4 stars.

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By Greg MacArthur

Another common point critics made against The House of the Spirits_ was the film's inability to capture the sharp sense of magical realism within the original novel, which is part of what made it so initially iconic. Other notes on flat directorial choices and an ineffective, pretentious tone. The LA Times even went so far as to say that it was "a misstep in the careers of pretty much everyone involved."

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