Netflix isn’t always candid about viewership numbers, especially when it comes to the number of people that actually stuck around and watched a full movie or TV series, but the company is more than happy to tout original projects with noteworthy launches.
That trend continued late last week when the company revealed that Zack Snyder’s latest movie, Army of the Dead, was on its way to becoming one of Netflix’s biggest movies ever. The movie has only been available since May 21st, but according to the company’s internal metrics, it is on pace to be streamed 72 million times in its first four weeks, which would put it in the top ten.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, action movies have dominated Netflix’s original film output in recent years. Army of the Dead is set in a zombie apocalypse, as “a group of mercenaries take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted.” If it really can hit 72 million views, it will tie The Midnight Sky for ninth place and push out The Kissing Booth 2, which racked up 66 million views in four weeks. Here’s the complete list as it stands today:
- Extraction – 99 million
- Bird Box – 89 million
- Spenser Confidential – 85 million
- 6 Underground – 83 million
- Murder Mystery – 83 million
- The Old Guard – 78 million
- Enola Holmes – 76 million
- Project Power – 75 million
- The Midnight Sky and Army of the Dead (tied) – 72 million
Unsurprisingly, Netflix has already made plans to turn Army of the Dead into a franchise. First up is the prequel movie Army of Thieves, which is directed by and stars Matthias Schweighöfer, who was Ludwig Dieter in the original flick. Filming took place late last year in Germany, and it should be ready before the end of the year, so you won’t have to wait long to see him cracking safes again.
Netflix has also ordered an anime called Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas in which many of the actors from the movie will return to voice their characters in a series that will chronicle the lead-up to the zombie outbreak. The series is said to focus on the origins of Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), but Ella Purnell, Ana de la Reguera, Tig Notaro, and Omari Hardwick will all reprise their roles from Army of the Dead, with Joe Manganiello and Christian Slater rounding out the voice cast.
72 million households are betting on dead.
ARMY OF THE DEAD has been the #1 film around the world and is projected to be one of Netflix’s most popular films ever in its first 4 weeks. pic.twitter.com/85foTPFAny
— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) May 28, 2021
If you’ve already seen Army of the Dead (or simply have no interest in Zack Snyder’s return to zombie movies), there are plenty of great new shows and movies coming to Netflix this month that you might want to check out instead. We also put together a list of the ten best shows and movies hitting Netflix next month, if you don’t want to sort through them yourself.
