The Old Guard, starring Charlize Theron made its debut on Netflix on the 10th of July. The fantasy action film about a group of immortal warriors has been receiving fairly decent reviews from critics. As of now, it has an 80% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average critic score of 6.5/10. Our resident film critic, Samuel Lim enjoyed the film as well, saying “set apart by a unique supernatural premise, emotionally resonant performances and powerhouse action scenes, The Old Guard has plenty of new tricks to spare.”
And it looks like Netflix subscribers are digging the film as well. A few days after the film’s release, Netflix Tweeted, “The Old Guard is breaking records! The Charlize Theron blockbuster is already among the top 10 most popular Netflix films ever — and Gina Prince-Bythewood is the first Black female director on the list. The film is currently on track to reach 72M households in its first 4 weeks!”
72 million households in 4 weeks is an impressive projection. If The Old Guard manages to hit the target, it would be the 6th most-watched Netflix original film of all time, beating The Irishman (64 million).
THE OLD GUARD is breaking records! The Charlize Theron blockbuster is already among the top 10 most popular Netflix films ever — and Gina Prince-Bythewood is the first Black female director on the list.
The film is currently on track to reach 72M households in its first 4 weeks! pic.twitter.com/pM8vOTNa6m
— Netflix Tudum (@NetflixTudum) July 18, 2020
However, one thing we have to note is that Netflix’s metric when it comes to these kinds of stats isn’t an indicator if people liked the film, or heck even watched it till the end. This January, it was reported that watching a film for merely 2 minutes contributes to the viewing total. Which means even if you watched a film for just 2 minutes, found it to be hot garbage and switched it off immediately, it still counts as a view. That said, while it may not be a great indicator of how many people liked the film, I think it’s a fairly good indicator of how many people were excited to watch it in the first place.
