Netflix has revealed that Army of the Dead is on the way to becoming one of its most popular movies. The streaming giant states that the zombie heist movie has been watched by 72 million households in just a week on release.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that 72 million households have sat through all 148 minutes of Zack Snyder’s latest movie. Netflix counts the first two minutes of any film or show as a viewing–which in the case of Army of the Dead, is less than 2% of the entire running time. So we know that a huge number of people started the movie–how many finished remains unknown.
72 million households are betting on dead.
ARMY OF THE DEAD has been the #1 film around the world and is projected to be one of Netflix’s most popular films ever in its first 4 weeks. pic.twitter.com/85foTPFAny— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) May 28, 2021
Nevertheless, even with those slightly misleading figures, the movie is clearly a success for Netflix. Last year, the service revealed its most watched films of all time. The Chris Hemsworth-starring action movie Extraction stands as the platform’s biggest hit with 99 million watches over its first four weeks, while the dystopian thriller Bird Box scored 89 million viewers in the same amount of time.
Unsurprisingly, Netflix plans to turn Army of the Dead into a franchise. A prequel movie titled Army of Thieves has already been shot, with Army star Matthias Schweighöfer directing. There’s also the animated show Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas in the works.
For more, check out GameSpot’s guide to all the best originals, movies, and shows hitting Netflix in June.