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Let’s be real for a second. If you were one of the greatest scorers to ever lace up a pair of Nikes, you’d probably think you could do just about anything. And in 2012, Kevin Durant decided that "anything" included being the lead in a major Hollywood production.
The result? Thunderstruck.
Most people remember it as that weird fever dream of a movie where a skinny kid from Oklahoma magically steals KD’s basketball powers. It’s basically Space Jam meets Freaky Friday, but with significantly more awkwardness and way fewer cartoons. If you’ve ever searched for kevin durant in movie history, this is the main event. It’s a fascinating, cringey, and strangely endearing moment in NBA pop culture that most fans have either blocked out or never heard of.
The Bizarre Plot of Thunderstruck Explained
The premise is exactly what you’d expect from a 2012 family comedy. Brian, played by Taylor Gray, is a high schooler who is—to put it mildly—terrible at basketball. He’s the water boy. He’s the kid who gets viral for all the wrong reasons.
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Then comes the "magic."
During a halftime show at an Oklahoma City Thunder game, Brian gets to meet KD. They touch a ball at the same time, a spark of CGI energy flies, and boom: talent swap. Suddenly, the kid is dunking like a pro and leading his high school team to glory. Meanwhile, the actual Kevin Durant (playing himself) can’t hit the broad side of a barn.
He’s airballing free throws. He’s fumbling passes. He looks genuinely confused. Honestly, the most impressive part of the movie is Durant’s ability to act like he’s bad at basketball. It’s harder than it looks to make a professional jump shot look that ugly.
Why the Movie Flopped (Hard)
While the concept was harmless enough, the box office numbers were... well, they were brutal. The movie had a budget of around $7 million. It ended up grossing only about **$587,211** in its limited theatrical release. To put that in perspective, that’s less than KD makes in a single quarter of a regular-season game these days.
Critics weren't much kinder. The Rotten Tomatoes score sits at a chilly 27% from critics, though the audience score is much higher (around 69%) because, hey, it’s a fun movie for 10-year-olds. It didn't try to be The Godfather. It tried to be a way for kids to see their favorite superstar on the big screen, and in that specific niche, it kind of worked.
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Kevin Durant’s Acting "Career" After 2012
After the movie came out, Durant famously joked that he was retiring from acting. He realized pretty quickly that his talent lived on the hardwood, not in a trailer on a studio lot.
But that doesn't mean he vanished from the screen. If you look at the credits for kevin durant in movie projects or TV shows, you’ll see he’s actually been incredibly active behind the scenes. He shifted from being the guy in front of the lens to the guy holding the checkbook and the creative vision.
Thirty Five Ventures and the Production Pivot
KD and his business partner, Rich Kleiman, founded Thirty Five Ventures (now 35V) in 2016. This was the game-changer. Instead of playing a fictionalized version of himself in a cheesy comedy, Durant started producing high-quality content that actually mattered to him.
- Two Distant Strangers: He was an executive producer on this short film. It didn't just "do okay"—it won an Academy Award in 2021.
- Swagger: This is a scripted series on Apple TV+ inspired by Durant’s experiences in the youth basketball circuit. It’s gritty, real, and miles away from the "magic ball" tropes of his early movie days.
- NYC Point Gods: A brilliant documentary exploring the culture of New York City point guards.
He also appeared in documentaries like Basketball County: In the Water, which dives into the insane amount of basketball talent coming out of Prince George's County, Maryland. This is where KD is comfortable. He’s not a character actor; he’s a storyteller for the culture of the game.
The "Other" Kevin Durant
Here’s a fun fact that confuses Google search results every single day: there is another Kevin Durand.
He’s a veteran character actor you’ve seen in Lost, The Strain, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He’s a big guy (6'6"), so when people search for "Kevin Durant in movie," they often see photos of this guy in a Viking outfit or a Nazi uniform and get incredibly confused.
Just to be clear: the NBA's Kevin Durant has never played a mutant or a mercenary. He’s stuck to playing himself or producing stories about the sport he loves.
What We Can Learn From KD's Hollywood Journey
There’s a lesson in how Durant handled his brief stint as a movie star. He tried something, it didn't exactly set the world on fire, and he pivoted. Instead of forcing himself into a box that didn't fit, he leveraged his fame to become one of the most successful athlete-producers in history.
He didn't need to be the next The Rock. He just needed to be Kevin Durant.
If you're looking to watch the "classic" Durant acting performance, you can usually find Thunderstruck on streaming platforms like Tubi or for rent on Amazon. It’s a great watch if you want to see a younger, OKC-era KD before the championships and the "Easy Money Sniper" persona fully took over.
Next Steps for the KD Fan:
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If you want to see the good side of KD’s filmography, skip the 2012 comedy for a night and watch Two Distant Strangers on Netflix or start the first season of Swagger on Apple TV+. These projects show who he actually is as a creator—someone who wants to tell deep, meaningful stories about life, race, and the grind of being an athlete. You’ll get a much better sense of his legacy than you will from watching him "lose his powers" to a teenager.