Largely thanks to the success of Squid Game, Netflix announced in November 2021 that it would publish a weekly list detailing its most popular movies over a seven-day period.
Ranking titles by weekly hours watched, that is, the total number of hours subscribers around the world watched each title between Monday and Sunday of the previous week, Netflix routinely shares four separate lists; two for movies (English and non-English) and two for TV shows (English and non-English).
Whether or not the best Netflix movies top these rankings depends on the streamer's audience, and feature-length documentaries have also been known to creep up the rankings, but we've rounded up the top ten most popular English-language movies below. In the past week.
1. The Tinder scammer
Release Date: February 2, 2022
Hours viewed: 34,45 million
Weeks in the Top 10: 3
To no one's surprise, The Tinder Swindler still ranks as Netflix's most popular movie (making it one of the streamer's most successful feature-length documentaries to date). You probably already know the score, but this investigative film, based on months-long investigation by Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang, puts under the microscope the extraordinary case of an alleged billionaire playboy who extorted millions from unsuspecting women via Tinder. . It's been one of the best Netflix documentaries in quite some time, so grab it while it's hot.
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
(*two*)
(Image credit: Netflix)Release Date: February 18, 2022
Hours viewed: 29,18 million
Weeks in the Top 10: 1
As the last feature film to premiere on Netflix, we expected Texas Chainsaw Massacre to climb to the top of the streamers' popularity charts. This sequel to the 1974 original marks the ninth installment in the long-running horror series and finds an aging Leatherface wreaking havoc on a group of unsuspecting millennials in a Texas ghost town. Produced exclusively for Netflix, it's based on an original story co-written by Fede Álvarez and Rodolfo Sayagues (both known for their work on Evil Dead and Don't Breathe), though fans of the franchise can expect standard slasher fare here.
3. Big Girl 2
Release Date: February 11, 2022
Hours viewed: 21,74 million
Weeks in the Top 10: 3
Tall Girl 2, imaginatively named, finds original star Jodi Kreyman (Ava Michelle) struggling with her newfound popularity (as a...great person, presumably). However, miscommunication begins to cause rifts with those around her, and a new crush sees Jodi caught in an awkward love triangle. It sounds like a typical teen drama to us, but 21,7 million people seem to have enjoyed it.
4. Fistful of Vengeance
Release Date: February 17, 2022
Hours viewed: 18,3 million
Weeks in the Top 10: 1
In this feature-length follow-up to the first season of the Netflix series Wu Assassins, a young Chinatown leader in present-day San Francisco, Kai Jin (Iko Uwais of the Raid), becomes entangled in the pursuit of the Chinese triad of ancient mortals. . powers known as Wu Xing. We're getting John Wick-meets-Shang-Chi vibes from this one, which can only be a good thing.
5. Despicable Me 2
Release Date: June 28, 2013
Hours viewed: 11,51 million
Weeks in the Top 10: 3
For some reason, Illumination's Despicable Me 2 is the fifth most popular movie on Netflix right now. To be fair, this sequel beats the 2010 original in almost every way. So it seems that families around the world are still tuned in to the misadventures of Gru (Steve Carell), his henchmen and his adoptive family.
6. Abominable
Release Date: October 11, 2019
Hours viewed: 8,96 million
Weeks in the Top 10: 1
Christmas may be over for another year, but still Abominable Dreamworks is among the most popular movies from Netflix. Only last week, 7.640.000 million people enjoyed the story of Yi, a girl who meets a Yeti on the roof of her building in Shanghai.
7. Saint Vincent
Release Date: September 5, 2014
Hours viewed: 7,64 million
Weeks in the Top 10: 1
St. Vincent 2014 is another film that has been inexplicably located on the top 10 of Netflix. This dramatic comedy is starring Bill Murray as the veteran head of the Vietnam War in charge of caring for the 12 year old son of a single mother.
8. Crash: The Case Against Boeing
Release date: January 21 of 2022
Hours viewed: 7,42 million
Weeks in the Top 10: 1
Adapted from the New Yorker article of the same name, Rory Kennedy's film exposé takes a microscope into two Boeing 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people over five months in March 2019. Experts and researchers reveal how the supposed priority of the airline's profits over safety may have contributed to the incidents, which went relatively unnoticed at the time. Almost 7,5 million people have already seen this one.
9. Despicable Me
Release Date: October 15, 2010
Hours viewed: 7,17 million
Weeks in the Top 10: 3
Wait, both Despicable Me movies are among the most popular movies on Netflix right now? your bet In this first episode, a criminal mastermind (Steve Carell) adopts three orphans as pawns to pull off the biggest heist in history. Of course, his life takes an unexpected turn when girls start seeing him as his potential father, but you and over 7 million viewers already knew that.
10. The Disappearance
Release Date: October 11, 2018
Hours viewed: 7,03 million
Weeks in the Top 10: 1
Perhaps the most surprising entry on this week's list is The Vanishing, a 2018 film starring Sex Education's Gerard Butler, Peter Mullan and Connor Swindells as three lighthouse keepers who stumble upon a chest of gold hidden on a boat in distress. No, we can't explain its popularity, but maybe Butler in a turtleneck fisherman had something to do with it.