Hang on, didn’t Netflix purge all of the Johnny Depp movies from their library in a targeted effort to wipe his existence from the collective memories of their 190 million subscribers, as the company definitively sided with Amber Heard by banishing her ex-husband into the wilderness of streaming purgatory? Of course they didn’t, that would be ridiculous.
Still, that didn’t stop a vocal section of Depp’s fanbase from blasting Netflix on social media by accusing them of exactly that, after a couple of the actor’s titles disappeared from the platform recently. Obviously, the streaming site is always removing older movies and adding new ones for a variety of legal and contractual reasons, but this time, it happened to involve someone that has an army of rabid supporters ready to mobilize at a moment’s notice, so it gained a bit of traction. Besides, if Netflix were to choose one of the Hollywood stars to part ways with, then they’d probably get rid of Heard’s back catalogue seeing as the majority of it is pretty terrible.
In any case, one of Depp’s more overlooked performances has been dominating the Top 10 most-watched movies list since debuting earlier this week, currently sitting in sixth place. The film in question is Rango, which recently hit Netflix and sees the Pirates of the Caribbean star reuniting with director Gore Verbinski for an animated neo-Western, and it’s every bit as bizarre as that sounds.
The pic also took advantage of being released in a year where Pixar had no new offerings, scooping the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, which no doubt made up for the lukewarm box office takings that saw it earn a solid if unspectacular $245 million globally on a $135 million budget. One of the most unique, irreverent and surreal studio animations of the last decade, Rango is well worth checking out now that it’s available on Netflix. Especially if you’re a Johnny Depp fan.