Netflix's social satire Don't Look Up has racked up 111 million hours of viewership in just three days, more than quadrupling the amount that Sandra Bullock's The Unforgivable was watched in the same week. The film is the latest directorial effort from Adam McKay, who began his career with wacky comedies usually starring Will Ferrell like Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers. However, his career transitioned to a more satirical and serious mode when he made 2015's The Big Short, a fourth-wall-breaking comedy about the people who got rich off the subprime mortgage crisis. That film was nominated for 4 Oscars and won 1, and his follow-up Vice, about George W. Bush's vice president Dick Cheney, was nominated for 8, still winning 1. Given the fact that Don't Look Up is already tied for second-most nominations in the 2022 Golden Globes, it will likely follow a similar trajectory.
Don't Look Up features a star-studded cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, and Tyler Perry. Unlike his previous two films, Don't Look Up is not based on actual events but merely inspired by them. As a satire of the current political goings-on, the film follows two scientists (DiCaprio and Lawrence) who discover a comet hurtling towards Earth and struggle desperately to get anybody to take the threat seriously, even the President (Streep), who starts an anti-science campaign to direct attention away from her recent sex scandal.
Per Netflix's official Top 10 metrics, Don't Look Up has already become the #1 film of the week on the back of 111 million total hours watched compared to The Unforgivable's 26.6 million hours. Don't Look Up reached this total in only three days since its release on the platform on Christmas Eve 2021. It did have an Oscar-qualifying limited run in theaters starting December 10. Still, much like the previous Netflix release Red Notice, it made so little splash that the company hasn't even reported the box office numbers.
For the 138 minute film, that viewing total translates to about 48.3 million watches of the film in its entirety. This is leagues higher than the week's #2 Netflix film The Unforgivable, trailing behind at only 26.6 million hours watched. That number is even higher than the viewership for season 2 of Emily in Paris, which runs for approximately 280 minutes total and yet has only garnered 107.6 million hours watched, making it the #2 ranking program of the week.
Don't Look Up doesn't seem like the kind of family fare that would be served well by a holiday-binging time slot, considering its subject matter. However, it's clear that it's gotten the same holiday boost as Bird Box before it - that apocalyptic thriller is still the #2 movie of all time on the platform after its release on December 21, 2018. Netflix knows what they're doing with their end-of-the-year releases, and this surge in viewer interest will likely do good things for its awards prospects in the coming season.
Source: Netflix