Netflix infamously doesn’t provide data for how many people watched what, with one exception: When they can brag about high numbers that are not verifiable by the press. We have no idea what the traffic was like on, say, the One Day at a Time reboot, which they abruptly cancelled. But we do know last year’s Bird Box got Marvel numbers. And last weekend — again, according to selectively provided information that can’t be proven otherwise — Murder Mystery, their latest Adam Sandler romp, became their all-time most-watched blockbuster.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix is claiming the comedy was watched by over 30 million households in its first three days. The intel came in the form of a tweet, not from their official account but from @NetflixIsAJoke, a verified “@netflix comedy account run by total tuna cans,” as per its bio.
Since joining the Motion Picture Association of America, Netflix has loosened rules that were once inflexible. They now (sometimes) release their original movies in theaters, occasionally before they drop on their service (as was the deal with Roma), and they occasionally release viewership data. According to them, 45 million accounts watched their show The Umbrella Academy.
If you’d like to join the masses, Murder Mystery reunites Sandler and Jennifer Aniston so they can solve a murder on a swanky boat filled with the overqualified likes of Terence Stamp, Luke Evans, and Gemma Arterton. The screenplay was written by James Vanderbilt, most famous for penning David Fincher’s Zodiac, so the man knows his way around murder.
Incidentally, if you guesstimate that a “household” watching Murder Mystery averages to, let’s say, three people, that means it was viewed by 90 million people. And if the average ticket price is $9, then…well, that’s certainly more money than even Avengers: Endgame made during its opening weekend. Of course, everyone watched it for a subscription they pay monthly, and all they had to do to view it was hit a couple buttons.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
