For a long time, people have had doubts about Chris Hemsworth’s capabilities as a leading man outside of his career-defining role as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Thor. On paper, his track record isn’t exactly great when he’s given top billing with Red Dawn, Blackhat, In the Heart of the Sea, The Huntsman: Winter’s War and Men in Black: International all bombing at the box office.
Even his critically-acclaimed efforts like The Cabin in the Woods, Rush and Bad Times at the El Royale hardly set the world on fire, leading many to believe that the 36 year-old’s fortunes would face an inevitable downturn once his time playing the God of Thunder came to an end. However, it looks like Hemsworth proved many of his doubters wrong following the incredible success of Netflix’s Extraction.
The marketing for the $65 million actioner hardly promised anything groundbreaking or original, but first-time director Sam Hargrave’s impeccable eye for a set-piece saw Extraction dominate the online discourse when it hit the streaming service in April, with the non-stop barrage of fist-fights and shootouts delivering a movie that more than lived up to the sum of its formulaic parts.
As well as becoming the most-watched premiere in Netflix’s history, the company recently revealed which of their original movies had racked up the most views and Extraction was miles ahead of the pack in first place, with a massive 99 million subscribers checking it out in just four weeks.
To celebrate the news, Hemsworth took to social media to thank the fans and his collaborators for the continued success of Tyler Rake’s maiden outing, and you can check out his post below.
Based on how well Extraction was received by both fans and critics, it didn’t come as a surprise that a sequel was given the go-ahead so soon after the movie debuted, and Tyler Rake now looks set to be the face of Netflix’s continued expansion into the blockbuster business for the foreseeable future.