Netflix has revealed the viewing figures for The Gray Man. While the streamer’s most expensive movie to date hasn’t topped the overall charts in terms of hours watched, it comfortably sits inside the top five most-viewed Netflix movies ever when comparing opening weekends.
The Gray Man was watched by 88.55 million hours in its first three days (via IndieWire). The only movies to beat that opening are Red Notice (148.72 million hours), Don’t Look Up (111.03 million hours), The Adam Project (92.43 million hours), and – perhaps most surprisingly – The Kissing Booth 3’s 90.86 million hours watched.
Despite not hitting the top spot, it’s clear Netflix is pleased with The Gray Man’s performance – becoming the second most-watched Netflix movie this year behind Ryan Reynolds’ The Adam Project. A sequel has been ordered by the streamer, while a spin-off penned by Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick is also on the way. The reaction has been pretty favorable from those watching at home. Viewers have already called The Gray Man "the best action-packed movie this year."
In our interview with directors Joe and Anthony Russo, they pointed towards Netflix’s risk-taking approach to original IP – every movie in the most-watched list is an original property – as a major benefit of working with the streamer.
"They're interested in original IP in a way that perhaps some other studios aren't at the moment – and at a higher price tag, which did allow us to execute a lot of the action sequences in the movie," Joe Russo said. "It would have been a smaller film at a different studio."
