Lots of fresh films have made their marks on Netflix lately. The Woman in the Window has been a fixture on the Top 10 charts for the past 20 days; Army of the Dead has been the most popular film in several countries during its opening two weeks; both Home and Dog Gone Trouble have proved just how dominant animated films can be on the streaming service; and, of course, The Mitchells vs. The Machines has become Netflix’s most promising new release in quite some time.
But how dominant have those movies been, exactly? Is there a way to calculate which movies have been the most popular on the Netflix platform this year?
Actually, yes there is. I know this because each day I track where movies rank on Netflix’s Top 10 list. Then using a formula that assigns points based on each film’s daily position, I update a tabulated list that tracks each movie’s score over the course of 2021.
So where does the list stand this week? We’ve got two newcomers to showcase, as well as some interesting movement to note. Here’s the updated Top 25:
- We Can Be Heroes - 355 points
- The Mitchells vs. The Machines - 298 points
- The Secret Life of Pets 2 - 262 points
- Thunder Force - 187 points
- Yes Day - 176 points
- Bigfoot Family - 171 points
- Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted - 169 points
- I Care a Lot - 169 points
- The Little Rascals - 167 points
- The Woman in the Window - 142 points
- War Dogs - 139 points
- Finding ‘Ohana - 138 points
- Army of the Dead - 127 points
- The Vanished - 124 points
- To All the Boys: Always and Forever - 118 points
- Homefront - 115 points
- Synchronic - 113 points
- 17 Again - 109 points
- Outside the Wire - 109 points
- The Dark Knight - 102 points
- Home - 101 points
- Deadly Illusions - 97 points
- Stowaway - 94 points
- Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal - 93 points
- Good Burger - 91 points
The two new movies featured on this list are bolded: Army of the Dead and Home. The latter film didn’t make its way onto Netflix until four days after Army of the Dead. However, Home has averaged 9.18 points per day, while Army of the Dead has averaged just 8.47 points per day. This speaks to the power of animated films on Netflix, as the genre tends have much more consistent and long-lasting runs on the Top 10.
Still, it’s hard to deny the power of Zack Snyder’s latest project, Army of the Dead, which rose all the way up to 13th place in just 15 days. The only other movies that have jumped up the Top 25 that quickly in 2021 include The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Thunder Force, Yes Days and Bigfoot Family—all movies that rank in the top ten slots. And it doesn’t appear as though Army of the Dead is faltering anytime soon—so I’d expect that film to enter the Top 10 as well.
Other notable jumps on this week’s list include The Woman in the Window (which went from 13th place on last week’s list to tenth place this week) and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (which maneuvered from ninth place to seventh place).
Amazingly, The Mitchells vs. The Machines continued its incredible showing on Netflix and added an additional 44 points to its score over last week. And while that performance wasn’t enough to move the animated film out of the second place position, it did inch The Mitchells vs. The Machines a little closer to We Can Be Heroes for the #1 spot in 2021.
Today marks the animated film’s 36th consecutive day on the Top 10 charts (which is now the seventh-longest streak ever). On the all-time charts, The Mitchells vs. The Machines now ranks in sixth place (up from eighth place last week).
There were two casualties this week to report on: Unknown and Parker, which are both currently tied for 26th place with 90 points.