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'Extraction' tops Netflix list of most-viewed original movies

Chris Hemsworth in the first trailer for <i>Extraction</i>. (Netflix)
Chris Hemsworth in the first trailer for Extraction. (Netflix)

Chris Hemsworth action thriller Extraction is the most-viewed original movie in the history of Netflix, the streamer has revealed.

Released earlier this year, the film was viewed 99 million times in its first four weeks on the platform, forcing Sandra Bullock hit Bird Box into second place, with 89 million viewers.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Netflix is already hard at work on a sequel to Extraction, with Joe Russo returning to pen the script and director Sam Hargrave in talks to return.

Read more: Hemsworth discusses viral meeting with autograph seeker

The rest of the top five, via Bloomberg, are Mark Wahlberg actioner Spenser Confidential, Michael Bay’s 6 Underground and the Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler comedy Murder Mystery.

This list marks the first time Netflix has disclosed its top-performing movies, having previously been secretive about the numbers for its films in most cases.

Sandra Bullock in Bird Box (Credit: Netflix)
Sandra Bullock in Bird Box (Credit: Netflix)

Most of the movies on the top 10 are genre efforts, with many led by bankable movie stars and others boosted by viral popularity, like Spanish horror The Platform.

Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated The Irishman is an outlier, in sixth place, but it’s worth noting that Netflix counts anyone who watches at least two minutes as a viewer — regardless of whether they complete all three and a half hours of the gangster epic.

Read more: How to watch The Irishman in chunks

The streamer’s other big awards contenders from recent years, including Marriage Story and Roma, are conspicuous by their absence.

Many of the entries on the list are among the service’s newer movies, perhaps reflecting the tens of millions of subscribers Netflix has added during the period of global lockdown.

'The Irishman'. (Credit: Netflix)
'The Irishman'. (Credit: Netflix)

The full top 10 is as follows:

  1. Extraction (99m)

  2. Bird Box (89m)

  3. Spenser Confidential (85m)

  4. 6 Underground (83m)

  5. Murder Mystery (73m)

  6. The Irishman (64m)

  7. Triple Frontier (63m)

  8. The Wrong Missy (59m)

  9. The Platform (56m)

  10. The Perfect Date (48m)