The most-watched Netflix movie is a surprising one, for sure.
Netflix’s first original film was Beasts of No Nation, released in October 2015 to some sterling reviews.
Netflix’s second original film was The Ridiculous 6, released in December 2015, and it remains one of the worst films Adam Sandler has ever made.
That dichotomy is a perfect signifier of the kind of movies that Netflix is home to; amazing Oscar-contenders (Roma, Mank, The Irishman), and unbelievably bad outings (The Cloverfield Paradox, The Do-Over, Father of the Year).
But which of these are we watching the most? Someone has tallied the totals and came up with the top ten list.
So, a couple of qualifiers: these are from numbers released by Netflix over the years, and collected in a report by Rotten Tomatoes. The numbers also account for the total accounts (so not people, as it could be one or ten people watching on an account), and these are the numbers who tuned in within the first 28 days of the movie’s release on Netflix.
And finally, it is based on at least two minutes of viewing time, so if you watched one of these movies for three minutes and realised you hated it, well…. you contributed to these numbers!
So, with no further delay, these are the ten most-watched original Netflix movies of all time… so far.
1. Extraction – 99 million
2. Bird Box – 89 million
3. Spenser Confidential – 85 million
4. 6 Underground – 83 million
5. Murder Mystery – 83 million
6. The Old Guard – 78 million
7. Enola Holmes – 76 million
8. Project Power – 75 million
9. Army of the Dead – 75 million
10. Fatherhood – 74 million
Congratulations to Chris Hemsworth and the makers of Extraction, that level of popularity is exactly why there is an Extraction 2 on the way. The rest of the top ten reveals a love for action (even if it is bad, which Spenser Confidential, 6 Underground, The Old Guard, Project Power and Army of the Dead are), and a surprising lack of “family” movies.
The best movie of 2021 so far isn’t on this list, but then again, neither is the worst.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
