If ever there was such a thing as a bulletproof genre, then any film or television project revolving around mass murder that can only be found on Netflix has got to be one of the most prominent. And yet, despite reigning as the streamer’s most-watched movie for the last two weeks, Luther: The Fallen Sun might not be the smash hit we’ve been led to believe.
Of course, the feature-length continuation of the phenomenal TV series is hardly a colossal failure given the way it parked itself at the summit of the global charts and has steadfastly refused to let go ever since, but new data indicates that it might not be the runaway freight train of sky-high viewing figures you might think.
According to research group Barb (via Deadline), The Fallen Sun was watched by an estimated three million people on their home televisions, which is hardly a drop in the ocean. However, that only puts it at sixth place on the rankings since the company began recording the data, and it’s lagging way behind some other heavy hitters.
Knives Out: A Glass Onion Mystery nabbed 18.5 million viewers, with Don’t Look Up snagging 15 million, while The Adam Project, The Gray Man, and Enola Holmes 2 are all currently outpacing Idris Elba’s return as the rugged detective who only appears to have ever owned one coat.
On the other side of the coin, several of the aforementioned flicks count as some of Netflix’s most-watched in-house originals of all-time, so perhaps the extension of a British series shouldn’t be judged on the same criteria. Then again, serial killers are all the rage these days.