Netflix’s “Don’t Look Up” is making history!
The A-list cast includes Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, Chris Evans, and a performance by Ariana Grande.
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.
The film opened to mixed reviews from audiences and critics, but it seems that audiences can’t stop watching the Adam McKay climate change parody.
‘Don’t Look Up’ Becomes The Second-Most Watched Film In Netflix History!
Only a few days ago, The Blast reported that the film has been watched for 152.29 million hours during the week of December 27 through January 2. Not only did it top Netflix charts to become the film with the most viewing hours for a single movie in a single week, but it also became the third-most-watched film on Netflix.
At the time, the Sandra Bullock thriller “Bird Box” came in second and 2021’s “Red Notice” came in first place. The crime caper comedy starred another impressive cast of “Jungle Cruise” actor Dwayne Johnson, “Deadpool” star Ryan Reynolds, and “Wonder Woman” Gal Gadot.
From January 2 to January 9, the film added 58.2 million hours for a total of 321,520,000 total viewing hours. This beats the “Bird Box” total of 282,020,000 hours to become the second most popular film in Netflix history.
“Red Notice” currently has 364,020,000 watched hours in the first 28 days of its release, so it’s still possible for “Don’t Look Up,” which was available for streaming just before Christmas, to become the number one most-watched Netflix film of all time.
Adam McKay Shares The News, Fans Still Conflicted
Adam McKay’s #DontLookUp starring Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio has officially become Netflix’s second most successful movie of all time, overtaking ‘Bird Box.’ pic.twitter.com/6PxFLBnRbl
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) January 11, 2022
On Tuesday afternoon, “Don’t Look Up” creator Adam McKay retweeted the news from Film Updates, which read, “Adam McKay’s #DontLookUp starring Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio has officially become Netflix’s second most successful movie of all time, overtaking ‘Bird Box.’”
“Jennifer’s impact,” one fan wrote, to which another fan replied, “Leo’s impact.” Several others piled on the post to add “Ron Perlman’s impact,” “Ariana’s impact” and “Meryl’s impact.”
“Can’t wait for it to dethrone that awful movie ‘Red Notice’ as well and claim its rightful spot as the most-watched movie,” one fan commented.
“Just imagine how successful these Netflix movies would be if they were actually good,” another fan commented.
“Too bad,” another fan wrote. “Bird Box was better.”
“If only they could somehow make a sequel to this, they would,” another fan wrote.
“Bird box I’m so sorry you don’t deserve this,” another fan commented.
“I loved it idc I DON’T CARE,” another fan wrote. “It was fun to watch and that’s all that matters idc about boring a—flaws or whatever like you guys are just boring. Also Ariana carried so…”
Another fan didn’t care for either, calling them both “s— movies.”
Film Critics Remain Just As Conflicted As The Fans
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%. Those numbers have held since last week.
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.”
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.”
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.”
Linda Marric of The Jewish Chronicle said the film was “very silly, yet undeniably urgent. I loved every second.”
