'Don't Look Up' Sets A New Netflix Record!

Netflix’s “Don’t Look Up” finally became available for audiences to stream over the Christmas holiday... and stream they did!

The star-studded cast included Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, CateBlanchett, TimothéeChalamet, ChrisEvans, and ArianaGrande.

The film tells the story of two astronomers (Lawrence and DiCaprio) from Michigan State who start on a media tour to warn the public that an approaching comet is about to destroy the planet after the President (Streep) and her son (Hill) tell them to “sit tight” with the information until after the mid-term elections are over.

Although the film opened to mixed reviews from audiences and critics alike, it seems that everyone can agree that the Adam McKay climate change parody is a must-see.

“Don’t Look Up” has topped Netflix charts to become the film with the most viewing hours for a single movie in a single week. Netflix confirmed to Deadline that the film has been watched for 152.29 million hours during the week of December 27 through January 2.

Even though the film has been out for less than a month, the film is already the third-most-watched film on Netflix, behind Sandra Bullock’s “Bird Box” and 2021’s “Red Notice,” which featured “Jungle Cruise” actor Dwayne Johnson, “Deadpool” star Ryan Reynolds, and “Wonder Woman” Gal Gadot.

Netflix does not release daily data, so it’s possible that the movie could soon become the most-watched movie in Netflix history.

Adam McKay retweeted the news to his Twitter page, where the news was met with just as much division as the movie itself.

“152 million hours wasted on this god awful unfunny movie,” one user wrote.

“This movie is a masterpiece,” a supporter wrote, to which someone replied, “It was good but I expected more in the ending.”

“That does not mean we need a sequel Netflix…” another wrote, although some people questioned how a sequel could be possible given the ending of the movie. “World, ended,” another replied. “Like total and complete destruction of planet earth.”

“As it should, it’s a fire movie with a message everyone should watch bc it applies to everyone,” another added.

“As a scientist whose had many conversations with people across the US about various pressing topics, I can say this film is painfully accurate,” another fan tweeted. “Many critics / media folks utterly miss the point because they have insulated themselves in like-minded bubbles. It’s bad out there.”

“I’ve watched it like 5 times so far,” another added. “I feel there is more reality to the movie then we understand…”

“The movie was so long that’s like 4 total watches,” another user wrote. “It’s a goodie though.”

“I hope viewers took away the right message from the movie,” another wrote, to which someone replied, “We’re all going to die and there’s nothing we can do about it? Great message. Really uplifting.”

The scores on Rotten Tomatoes have only changed by one percentage point since Christmas Day. The Tomatometer score dropped from 56% to 55% and the audience score went from 77% to 78%, so it’s clear that the film is still dividing audiences and critics alike.

Rick Marshall of the Digital Trends called the film “A brilliantly scripted, wonderfully acted, and depressingly realistic satire of the environment America currently finds itself in, and the threat it poses not just to the country, but to the future of humanity.”

MarkMeszoros of The News-Herald wrote, “Ideally, ‘Don’t Look Up’ would make you laugh AND inspired to learn more about climate change. As it is, it mostly makes you tired.”

Ruben Peralta Rigaud of Cocalecas wrote, “It’s not subtle, but like the killer in ‘Se7en’ said, you can’t just tap people on the shoulder anymore, you have to hit them with a sledgehammer.”

James Berardinelli of ReelViews wrote, “Despite a to-die-for cast and a seemingly can't-miss premise, Don't Look Up is a failure on too many levels and, although the viewing numbers may satisfy Netflix, it's a shock to see such a high-profile film self-destruct.”

Matthew Lucas of From The Front Row gave the film a scathing review, writing, “This isn’t just a noble failure, it’s a flat out bad film, an attempt to address a very real planetary crisis in the simplest and most misguided terms.”

Shawn Edwards of Fox 4 Kansas City gave the film one of the worst, yet one of the most comedic, reviews, writing, “If I wanted to get preached at, I’ll just go to church.”