With well over 150 credits under his belt and a lofty status as the single most commercially successful actor in the history of cinema with a cumulative career box office gross of over $27 billion and counting, it shouldn’t be surprising that a Samuel L. Jackson film is proving to be hugely popular on Netflix.
After all, he’s one of the most uniquely charismatic onscreen presences of the last 30 years, whether he’s delivering one of his signature foul-mouthed monologues, showing up for a paycheck in a bargain basement action thriller or spouting reams of exposition in a big budget blockbuster like only he can. At this point, all Jackson would have to do to convince people that one of his movies is worth checking out is turn up and call somebody a motherf*cker.
In fact, there are two of the 72 year-old’s projects dominating the Netflix Top 10 most-watched list today, and they couldn’t be more different. The first is satirical mockumentary Death to 2020 from the mind of Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker, which ropes in a gaggle of famous faces as fictional experts to have them pass judgement on the dumpster fire that was the last twelve months, and it’s still the third most-viewed title across the world thirteen days after it was released.
The second is one of his more forgettable and formulaic actioners, with 2003’s S.W.A.T. playing incredibly well over the last week or so, and it’s currently the eighth most-watched movie in the United States. Clearly, then, subscribers are more than happy to spend the first week of 2021 in the company of Samuel L. Jackson, which admittedly does sound like a pretty good way to ring in the new year.