Following the rousing success of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, not only is another Beniot Blanc mystery here, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is streaming on Netflix. It’s an exciting and a rather high-profile movie to be available just in time for the holiday season, so obviously we were not surprised when Glass Onion pulled massive numbers in its first few days on the streamer. However, it does feel like a bit of a mystery that the movie is in third place among all the 2022 Netflix debuts, isn’t it?
Glass Onion was streamed 82.1 million hours in its first three days on Netflix, per The Hollywood Reporter. That makes the movie the sixth biggest launch for the streaming service. What beat out the whodunnit sequel starring Daniel Craig with ridiculously great reviews and a stacked cast list? Let’s break it down.
What 2022 Movies Beat Out Glass Onion?
Two other major Netflix movies had better three-day debuts than Glass Onion. Russo Brothers’ The Gray Man, which starred Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling and Ana de Armas, began its run on Netflix with 88.55 million hours back in July (the fourth highest for Netflix), and Ryan Reynolds-led The Adam Project pulled big numbers right off the bat with 92.43 million hours (third place) back in March.
It goes to show that Netflix’s reported most expensive movie, The Gray Man, paid off when it came to people showing up to view it in the streamers own version of an “opening weekend.” Ryan Reynolds seems to be a major draw too, especially since his recent film, Spirited, landed on Apple TV+ and became the service’s most streaming movie to date.
What Other Netflix Movies Have The Biggest Debuts?
So Glass Onion missed out on the Top 5 best ever Netflix debuts. The number one spot belongs to 2021’s Red Notice with 148.72 million hours, with Don’t Look Up at No. 2 with 111.03 million and Sandra Bullock’s The Unforgivable nabbing the fifth spot behind The Adam Project and The Gray Man. It’s a bit of a random bunch of movies, but all of them certainly have star power. One would argue Glass Onion has even more star power than these titles, and yet…
Why Glass Onion Didn’t Break 2022 Streaming Records
There are a couple reasons why Glass Onion did not make that Top 5 list for all-time best debuts on Netflix. For one, the Knives Out sequel actually went to theaters last month and collected $13 million in just a week, and it could have made more if it wasn’t a limited engagement. For audiences who saw the movie during that window, they likely didn’t tune in the first three days of its release. Plus, there’s the factor of it being the holidays. As THR also noted, many families were gathered together this week, meaning less collective viewing hours probably occurred than movies like The Gray Man and The Adam Project, which didn’t come out during any holiday window.
Measuring Netflix movies is such a complicated animal, as you can tell. But overall, Glass Onion was clearly a successful sequel, and Netflix, Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig are already gearing up to deliver Knives Out 3! If you’ve yet to see Glass Onion, all its shocking twists and turns are available to uncover now.
