Rian Johnson’s acclaimed sequel “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” has become Netflix’s sixth biggest film debut, with 82.1 million hours streamed on its first three days on the service.
Netflix only began releasing such ‘first three days’ records last year so the pool of titles isn’t very big. Still, the film came in behind some other more high-profile title launches, including the Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot-led “Red Notice” in the top spot with 148.72 million hours viewed.
Adam McKay’s all-star dark comedy “Don’t Look Up” snagged 111.03 million hours last Christmas, the Ryan Reynolds-led sci-fi feature “The Adam Project” snagged 92.43 million hours, the Ryan Gosling-Chris Evans assassins thriller “The Gray Man” had 88.55 million, and the Sandra Bullock-led “The Unforgivable” scored 85.86 million hours.
Johnson pushed for “Glass Onion” to have a theatrical release, and it did, becoming the first Netflix title ever to receive a theatrical release across all three major chains (AMC Theatres, Cinemark Theatres and Regal Cinemas) and reportedly pulling in around $13 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday.
Those numbers were seen as a very good result, but the move was thought to have left millions on the table by not giving the film a traditional wide theatrical release. Netflix wanted it that way though, and CEO Ted Sarandos downplayed the film’s theatrical component, which upset exhibitors.
That the box-office release and good word of mouth sadly didn’t translate to a stronger debut on the service suggests Netflix isn’t likely to change its strategy anytime soon. Earlier this month, Johnson had hoped to get the film back out in cinemas once it had hit the service, but those plans never came to fruition.
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” is now streaming on Netflix.
Source: THR
