Netflix‘s Top 10 list has never exactly been regarded as a barometer of quality, as evidenced by The Last Days of American Crime and 365 Dni surging to the top of the chart despite both movies currently holding a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as Adam Sandler’s seemingly permanent residency as the streaming service’s most-watched actor despite the overwhelming majority of his output being terrible.
However, that isn’t to say that subscribers don’t know a great movie when they see one, and despite only arriving on Friday, Charlize Theron’s The Old Guard has already rocketed to the number one position. That isn’t terribly surprising, either, as Netflix’s latest high-profile and star-powered blockbuster has been getting solid reviews from critics and gone down a storm with fans online, with demands for a sequel flooding social media just hours after the comic book adaptation debuted.
Having dislodged the Unsolved Mysteries reboot from the top slot, there’s every chance that The Old Guard could now be poised to dethrone Chris Hemsworth’s acclaimed actioner Extraction as Netflix’s most-watched premiere yet. The company clearly knew that they had a major hit on their hands, and while the ending goes down the all-too-familiar route of concluding on a sequel-baiting tease, based on the early numbers it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more from the titular band of immortal mercenaries in the future.
With Atomic Blonde 2 also officially in the works under the same roof, the success of The Old Guard looks set to position Charlize Theron as one of Netflix‘s marquee attractions as they continue to firmly put their stamp on the action genre, and given how quickly an Extraction sequel was greenlit, a follow-up to The Old Guard will no doubt be announced imminently.