Netflix Claims New Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston Movie Drew Record Views
Netflix is once again raising eyebrows with claims about its viewership data. This time around the s..
Netflix is once again raising eyebrows with claims about its viewership data. This time around the streamer has announced record views for Murder Mystery—the latest Adam Sandler comedy, costarring Jennifer Aniston. On Tuesday the streamer announced—via its comedy Twitter account, Netflix Is a Joke—that over 30 million accounts globally had watched the film in its first three days streaming, giving it the biggest opening weekend for a Netflix original film.
“30,869,863 accounts watched Murder Mystery in its first 3 days,” the tweet read. “The biggest opening weekend ever for a Netflix Film. 13,374,914 accounts in the US and Canada, and 17,494,949 more worldwide.”
This is seemingly the first time Netflix has given such specific numbers in regards to viewing data about an original film. The streamer is notoriously mum when it comes to giving ratings and viewership data, instead selectively releasing flattering, strategic numbers about a handful of projects. Since signing a multipicture deal with Sandler in 2014, Netflix has claimed that the comedians work is among its most popular offerings. In 2017 Netflix head Ted Sarandos claimed that users have spent nearly half a billion hours watching the comedians movies on the platform; given that, it makes sense that Murder Mystery would be a popular viewing option upon its release.
However there are some who dont believe Murder Mystery is as popular as Netflix claims. The figure has raised skepticism on social media, particularly from those who broke down the math behind the numbers and found that, if the data was correct, the movie earned more views than some of the most buzzed-about projects of the year, such as the Game of Thrones finale.
Netflix has released somewhat similar stats in the past, most recently claiming that Bird Box, the horror movie starring Sandra Bullock, was watched by millions of viewers, and was “seeing high repeat viewing.” In addition the streamer said the show You, which it acquired from Lifetime, was on track to be watched by 40 million members in its first month. You just have to take their word for it.
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Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Full ScreenPhotos:Photos: First Look Greta Gerwigs Little WomenThe March sisters picnicking on the beach. From left to right: Emma Watson as Meg, Florence Pugh as Amy, Saoirse Ronan as Jo, and Eliza Scanlen as Beth. Little Women tells the story of their modest, imaginative girlhood. Author Louisa May Alcott based the story on her own upbringing.Photo: By Wilson Webb/© 2019 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Saoirse Ronan as Jo March, a heroine that has inspired Ursula Le Guin, Simone de Beauvoir, and Hillary Clinton, and Timothée Chalamet as Laurie, her best friend and closest confidant. “Jo is a girl with a boys name, Laurie is a boy with a girls name,” writer-director Greta Gerwig said. “In some ways they are each others twins.”Photo: By Wilson Webb/© 2019 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Emma Watson as Meg, Saoirse Ronan as Jo, and Florence Pugh as Amy, in one of the amateur plays the sisters put on in their house. Revisiting the text, Gerwig was struck by how seriously the sisters took their creative endeavors. The second chapter of Little Women includes a detailed description of the play the girls perform on Christmas Day: The Witch's Curse, an Operatic Tragedy.Photo: By Wilson Webb/© 2019 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Emma Watson as Meg, the oldest, who works as a governess to make ends meet. Meg is the only sister who remembers when the Marches were a rich family, and throughout the book, she longs for the pretty things her friends have.Photo: By Wilson Webb/© 2019 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Greta Gerwig, the writer and director, on set with Meryl Streep, who plays the sisters rich Aunt Josephine. The girls need her financial support, but have to put up with her disapproval of their unconventional, hardscrabble upbringing. Jo, her namesake, earns money by being Aunt March's chaperone—a job she hates.Photo: By Wilson Webb/© 2019 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
From left to right: Emma Watson as Meg, Florence Pugh as Amy, Saoirse Ronan as Jo, and Eliza Scanlen as Beth.Photo: By Wilson Webb/© 2019 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Eliza Scanlen as Beth, the shy third-oldest sister. Author Louisa May Alcott based Beth on her own sister, Lizzie Alcott, who died of scarlet fever at the age of 22. Louisa and Lizzie, like Jo and Beth, were very close.Photo: By Wilson Webb/© 2019 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.PreviousNext
