There were many who questioned the eight-movie deal Netflix signed with Adam Sandler.
Indeed Sandler has put out a stream of barely watchable timewasters. 2015’s The Ridiculous 6 was met with unenthusiastic reviews, followed by 2016’s The Do-Over and Sandy Wexler in 2017. According to a tweet from Netflix, however, all of that changed with last weekend’s release of Murder Mystery. The streaming giant claims the Jennifer Aniston/Sandler collaboration had the strongest opening weekend of any Netflix movie, with more than 30 million accounts tuning in over three days.
In a tweet fired off Tuesday afternoon, a verified Netflix account announced the unverified viewing numbers. According to the tweet, the first three days following Murder Mystery‘s release saw the film viewed by nearly 31,000,000 accounts.
🚨ADAM SANDLER AND JENNIFER ANISTON BREAKING NEWS ALERT🚨
— Netflix Is A Joke (@NetflixIsAJoke) June 18, 2019
30,869,863 accounts watched Murder Mystery in its first 3 days – the biggest opening weekend ever for a Netflix Film. 13,374,914 accounts in the US and Canada, and 17,494,949 more worldwide.
Netflix previously established that a view is counted if an account finishes at least 70% of a title. Anyone switching Murder Mystery off after 15 minutes, therefore, isn’t included. Due to Netflix’s notoriously closed-lipped approach to sharing viewership numbers, we can’t confirm or disprove the claim.
The streaming giant doesn’t follow the same rules as the rest of the Motion Picture Association of America, which were once air-tight. Now, thanks to the rise of Netflix and its streaming competition, guidelines that we used to rely on have gone out the window. Viewership data is released at Netflix’s whim, but only when the numbers are strong. When a hyped film or series appears to perform poorly in terms of social media reach, Netflix goes quiet.
The film reunites Aniston and Sandler to solve the murder of a billionaire aboard a yacht. They are joined by Terence Stamp, Luke Evans, and Gemma Arterton, to name a few.
Netflix did not respond to a request for comment.
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H/T Engadget
