Usually tight-lipped about viewing figures, Netflix has revealed its ten most-watched original movies of all time, with the results shedding a fascinating light on what works and what doesn’t on the world’s most popular streaming platform.
Taking the number one spot is the 2021 action movie Red Notice starring Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds, a film that failed to generate much buzz with critics but which became a minor sensation upon its release on Netflix. Telling the story of an Interpol agent who manages to successfully track down the world’s most wanted art thief with the help of a rival thief, the film becomes a comedy-crime caper with double-crossing aplenty.
The top ten is measured by tracking the hours of viewing time after the first 28 days of release, with recently released movies largely performing better on the platform thanks to the jump in subscriber count over the last five years.
Number two on the list is the star-studded ‘Best Picture’ nominee Don’t Look Up, directed by Adam McKay. Starring a host of celebrity names, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Timothée Chalamet, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Ariana Grande, Mark Rylance, Jonah Hill and Kid Cudi, the movie tells the story of a comet heading to destroy the world and the impotence of modern politics.
Third on the list of the ten most-watched original movies is the sci-fi horror flick Bird Box, starring Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson and Machine Gun Kelly. A dark apocalyptic drama, the film tells the story of an ominous invisible presence that drives humans to suicide and the journey of a mother and her two children across the country in search of help.
Netflix’s 10 most-watched original movies of all time
- The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019) – 215 million hours viewed
- The Unforgivable (Nora Fingscheidt, 2021) – 215 million hours viewed
- Purple Hearts (Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum, 2022) – 229 million hours viewed
- Extraction (Sam Hargrave, 2020) – 232 million hours viewed
- The Adam Project (Shawn Levy, 2022) – 233 million hours viewed
- The Gray Man (Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, 2022) – 254 million hours viewed
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson, 2022) – 280 million hours viewed
- Bird Box (Susanne Bier, 2018) – 282 million hours viewed
- Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay, 2021) – 360 million hours viewed
- Red Notice (Rawson Marshall Thurber, 2021) – 364 million hours viewed
