Theatrical failures continue to perform well on Netflix, which proves that whether a movie is a “flop” isn’t so easy to define with streaming. Netflix has begun to release weekly reports that rank the top 10 movies on the platform by views. Surprisingly, many of the films that end up on this list are older titles that have found their way into the spotlight after having flopped upon their initial release. This is further evidence that success and failure at the box office depend on entirely different factors than with streaming.
The world of streaming has undoubtedly complicated how we quantify a film’s success. As a distributor, Netflix is infamous for releasing its films exclusively on its platform, with minimal theatrical releases, if any. This has made comparing streaming releases to those at the box office difficult and has meant a demand for a metric as easy to define as theatrical profit. As an answer to this, Netflix has introduced a website that ranks not only its original movies (and TV shows) but also the older titles added to the platform throughout the year—and this has revealed a surprising trend.
10 Box Office Movie Flops That Later Became Massive Streaming Hits
For whatever reason, these movies failed to find an audience while in theaters but found massive success once available at home on streaming.
Box Office & Critical Flops Frequently Perform Better On Netflix
Streaming seems to be a way for an unsuccessful movie to have a second chance at life. Several movies in Netflix’s Top 10 over the past year were considered critical or financial failures when they were released, and it happens so often that it can no longer be considered a coincidence. During a week in January 2024, the top movie in the United States was the 2016 movie The Legend of Tarzan, a film with only a 35 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings is another example. The movie became Netflix’s #4 global hit despite only making $286.2 million when released in 2014.
This is repeated again and again with movies like Tyler Perry’s The Single Moms Club (2014) and Jude Law’s 2020 film The Nest, both of which were financial disappointments. In all, this means that just because a movie fails upon its release, it doesn’t mean it’s an overall flop. Netflix isn’t the only platform that has seen this. Even high-profile movies like Pixar’s Elemental saw surprising success on streaming (in this case, Disney+) after failing to bring in cash or critical acclaim. There’s a lot that could contribute to this phenomenon, and it comes down in part to how streaming success is calculated.
How Netflix Calculates Movie Streaming Performance (& How This Differs From Theaters)
In 2023, Netflix changed the way that it calculates how much a movie or TV show is being watched by subscribers. In the past, the streaming giant would announce the total number of hours a film had been watched. However, this meant that longer movies would typically have an edge since there would naturally be more hours watched for that film than for shorter ones. So, Netflix switched its metric to “views,“ which it calculates by taking the total hours a movie was watched and dividing it by the film’s duration. This provides a reasonably accurate estimate regarding a movie’s engagement.
Of course, this still doesn’t create a perfect parallel to how theatrical success is calculated. Box office numbers represent how much money a film has actually made, either domestically or globally, and based on a film’s budget, we can observe whether a studio broke even on a project. Since Netflix makes its money through monthly subscriptions, its Top 10 metric doesn’t reflect a film’s financial success in the same way. However, money aside, if a movie like The Nest or Exodus: Gods and Kings is being watched repeatedly, it’s a sign that audiences are enjoying it—and that’s still valuable.
Netflix Is Finally Pulling Back The Curtain – But The Streaming Service Is Still Hiding More Than You Think
Netflix’s first-half 2023 Engagement Report sets a new precedent for the streaming giant’s level of data transparency without offering much context.
Why Theatrical “Flops” Might Work Better For Streaming
As certain movies perform well in theaters while others do better on streaming, we can, over time, begin to predict what types of projects are better suited to which distribution method. Still, this isn’t likely to ever become an exact science. The unique thing about streaming success seems to be that a movie doesn’t necessarily have to be good for people to watch it. Since Netflix subscribers pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to the platform’s movies and TV shows, they can click on any movie they want. They can turn it off halfway through or perhaps watch it again another day. There are more options.
This ultimately means there is much less pressure on viewers when it comes to watching a movie on Netflix. Theaters have been on a steady decline over the years, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. If someone is going to purchase a ticket and head to theaters, they want to be as sure as possible that the movie will be worth it. On the other hand, there is no financial risk involved with watching a movie with poor reviews on Netflix, and even “bad” movies are enjoyable from the comfort of home. Of course, there’s always the chance of being pleasantly surprised when turning on a flop.
