'Glass Onion' Handles 82.1 Million Viewing Hours Over Christmas Opening Weekend on Netflix

As expected, "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" secured the No. weekly Netflix movies in its opening weekend on the streamer. A sequel to Rian Johnson's 2019 thriller "Knives Out," "Glass Onion" was watched for 82.1 million hours in the December 19-25 viewing window, during which time it was only available for the last three days. According to Netflix's estimate, dividing hours watched by the movie's runtime of 2.3 hours, that means 35 million households are listening.

The movie arrived on Netflix after a limited theatrical release that began on November 23, exactly one months before its streaming debut. The "Knives Out" franchise marked a major investment for Netflix, which in 2021 paid $450 million for the rights to two sequels, plus another $40 million to produce "Glass Onion," the first. Whether or not the company will get a solid return on investment remains to be seen.

82.1 million hours watched puts "Glass Onion" slightly behind the opening of "The Unforgivable" from 2021 (85.9 million) which is the lowest comparable title on Netflix's list of its most popular films of all time. (Sandra Bullock's film sits at No. 8. "The Irishman" and "The Kissing Booth 2" are No. 9 and No. 10, respectively, but both premiered before Netflix started releasing data from streaming weekly, so information about their opening weekends is not available.) Of course, that's not a perfect comparison: "Glass Onion" had a Christmas premiere, which means more than People were at home watching movies, though they were also huddled together, translating to combo views instead of views across multiple devices. "The Unforgivable" premiered on December 10, 2021, when viewers may have been busier, but were also more likely to watch the film separately and devote more viewing hours.

Also, 'The Unforgivable' didn't rise as steeply as some of the other movies Netflix's most popular. movies. For example, “The Gray Man” opened with 88.6 million hours watched in July, only 2.7 million more than “The Unforgivable,” but landed in fourth place with 253.9 million hours. watched after 28 days of streaming, almost 40 million more. than “The Unforgivable” final tally of 214.7 million. And when 'Purple Hearts' premiered the week after 'The Gray Man' with just 48.2 million hours watched before skyrocketing to become the 7th most popular Netflix movie of all time with 228.7 million hours after 28 days.

Therefore, "Glass Onion" could still be on the way to great ratings success for Netflix. (It's also worth noting that while Netflix and movie theaters declined to comment on box office numbers, sources told Variety that the film made around $15 million over the course of the year. first week of its theatrical release.)

Netflix's Top 10 for the week of December 19-25 also featured the debut of "Emily in Paris” Season 3 with 117.6 million hours watched in its first five days of availability, reaching the No. 2 position in the English TV rankings. The comedy-drama starring Lily Collins is a heavy hitter for Netflix, with the previous season having lasted five weeks in the Top 10, although season 3 already tops it with 10 million more hours watched than season 2 did. his beginnings. It's also worth noting that "Emily in Paris" Season 1 came in at #10 this week with 11.5 million hours as fans watch or experience the series for the first time.

"Emily in Paris" Season 3 was only beaten by "Wednesday". With 118.5 million hours watched from December 19 to December 25, it is now in its fifth consecutive week as the No. 1 television series on Netflix. Although it lost its chance to beat season 4 of “Stranger Things” for the title of the most popular English-language series of all time, landing at 1.237 billion hours watched in its first 28 days, it still broke the series in other ways: "Wednesday" broke the record for most hours watched in a single week with 341.2 million on its debut, then reset that record with 411.3 million hours the following week. "Stranger Things" Season 4 also online...