‘Army of the Dead’ Viewership Strong but Can’t Top ‘Extraction’ as Netflix Updates 10 Biggest Films List

Zack Sharf
·3 min read
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Zack Snyder’s zombie epic “Army of the Dead” is off to a strong start on Netflix, as the streamer reports (via Deadline) that the movie is expected to be viewed by 72 million households over its first four weeks of release. That number puts “Army of the Dead” in the number 10 spot on the list of biggest Netflix original openings. “Army of the Dead” opened to the same household views as George Clooney’s “The Midnight Sky,” which launched over the Christmas holiday last year. It’s important to note that Netflix recognizes a “view” as any subscriber who watched two minutes of the movie’s runtime.

The strong opening for “Army of the Dead” is good news for Snyder, who intends to launch a new franchise for the streamer with his Dave Bautista-starring action movie. Two “Army”-connected films are already in development at Netflix, one is an animated prequel series that tracks the origins of the zombie outbreak and the other is a live-action prequel movie that follows the codebreaker character played by Matthias Schweighöfer. “Army of the Dead” also leaves the door open for a proper sequel, which these numbers now suggest will happen.

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While “Army of the Dead” preformed well enough to break into the Netflix Top 10 opener list, it could not topple the likes of “Project Power” (75 Million),”Enola Holmes” (76 Million), “The Old Guard” (78 Million), “Murder Mystery” (83 Million), “6 Underground” (83 Million), “Spenser Confidential” (85 Million), “Bird Box” (89 Million), and “Extraction” (99 Million). The Chris Hemsworth-starring “Extraction” remains Netflix’s biggest original opening ever, but the streaming giant is still without an opening that cracks the 100 million household views mark.

The addition of “Army of the Dead” to the Netflix Top 10 list knocked off two titles that had previously made the cut when Netflix last announced the ranking in October 2020. Those films are Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” (which was in the number 10 position at the time with 64 household views million) and “The Kissing Booth 2” (which was in the number 9 position at the time with 66 million household views).

Here is the new list of Netflix’s top 10 biggest openings as of May 2021.

1. “Extraction” – 99 Million
2. “Bird Box” – 89 Million
3. “Spenser Confidential” – 85 Million
4. “6 Underground” – 83 Million
5. “Murder Mystery” – 83 Million
6. “The Old Guard” – 78 Million
7. “Enola Holmes” – 76 Million
8. “Project Power” – 75 Million
9. (tied) “The Midnight Sky” and “Army of the Dead” – 72 Million

Here was Netflix’s list of the biggest film openings as of October 2020:

1. “Extraction” – 99 Million
2. “Bird Box” – 89 Million
3. “Spenser Confidential” – 85 Million
4. “6 Underground” – 83 Million
5. “Murder Mystery” – 83 Million
6. “The Old Guard” – 78 Million
7. “Enola Holmes” – 76 Million
8. “Project Power” – 75 Million
9. “The Kissing Booth 2” – 66 Million
10. “The Irishman” – 64 Million

Here was Netflix’s list of the biggest film openings as of July 2020:

1. “Extraction” – 99 Million
2. “Bird Box” – 89 Million
3. “Spenser Confidential” – 85 Million
4. “6 Underground” – 83 Million
5. “Murder Mystery” – 83 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” – 55 Million

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