Netflix Reveals Its Top 10 Biggest Film Debuts, With Extraction at #1

Hard data regarding the streaming numbers on various Netflix movies are never easy to access, and all numbers—even those released by the streamer itself—need to be taken with a grain of salt, given that Netflix is able to count even a two-minute segment of watching a film as a complete “view.” But with that said, it’s always interesting to peek behind the curtain and see which films are the most watched on the service, particularly when it comes to Netflix originals.

Today, the service has revealed the top 10 original films in its history—not of all time, but in terms of debut windows. Netflix defines that as the first four weeks after release, and the numbers are pretty gaudy. In the #1 spot? Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction from earlier this year, which was reportedly played 99 million times worldwide in its first four weeks. That film dethroned the long-reigning Bird Box, which had held the title with 89 million views in the first four weeks since the end of 2018.

Third place is a bit of a surprise, meanwhile, with the Mark Wahlberg action comedy Spenser Confidential somehow doing 85 million views. The rest of the list is a mixture of genres and very different filmmakers, from foreign language horror (The Platform) to several Adam Sandler movies like Murder Mystery and The Wrong Missy. And finally, to balance out the palate, Martin Scorsese and The Irishman are there as well.

“We want an impactful movie every two weeks,” said Netflix’s Scott Stuber to Bloomberg. “For one person, that’s Extraction. For another, it’s The Wrong Missy.”

There’s a definite bias in the list toward more recent releases that you will quickly note, as Netflix’s constantly growing subscriber base means that films released in the last year were simply put in front of more eyes than ever before. With that in mind, it seems like only a matter of time before one of these movies breaks the 100 million views mark in its first 4 weeks, after Extraction fell just short. Regardless, here’s the full top 10.

1. “Extraction” – 99 Million
2. “Bird Box” – 89 Million
3. “Spenser Confidential” – 85 Million
4. “6 Underground” – 83 Million
5. “Murder Mystery” – 73 Million
6. “The Irishman” – 64 Million
7. “Triple Frontier” – 63 Million
8. “The Wrong Missy” – 59 Million
9. “The Platform” – 56 Million
10. “The Perfect Date” – 48 Million