The 10 Most Popular Movies on Netflix This Week (New List)
Thousands of movies on Netflix are available for streaming from the comfort of your couch with the original streaming behemoth Netflix, and there are a ton of exciting options on its roster of most-watched movies.
By now, viewers should be aware that Netflix features a Top Ten category that lists the most popular shows on the service to keep users informed about what’s trending.
The Top Ten, however, doesn’t necessarily represent the most-watched content ever; rather, it merely lists the content that is being watched that week.
The streaming service has never used the widely used network TV Nielsen Rating system, preferring to keep its methods of gauging viewership secret.
10 Most Popular Movies on Netflix
Here are the 10 most popular movies on Netflix for you to watch. Go through them below, we promise they are worth watching.
1. The Sea Beast (2022)
Netflix gives credit to animated films as well. The adventure film The Sea Beast became one of the platform’s most popular films, demonstrating the value of the family-friendly subscriber base to the behemoth streaming service.
In the movie, a young orphan named Maisie stows away on a ship belonging to a sea monster hunter named Jacob, and the group searches for the fabled Red Bluster.
With over 190 million hours of viewing, The Sea Beast’s captivating and distinctive story, breathtaking graphics, and outstanding voice cast are all factors in the film’s enormous success on the streaming platform.
2. Hustle (2022)
Make a hustle Juancho Hernangomez as Bo Cruz and Adam Sandler as Stanley Sugerman are seated together.
Hustle isn’t your typical Adam Sandler film, but it did manage to become one of the most-watched movies on Netflix in terms of hours viewed.
In the film Hustle, Sandler plays Stanley, an international basketball scout who has grown jaded over his professional life.
When Stanley finds amateur player Bo Cruz during a pickup game and signs him, he feels like he’s hit the jackpot. Between June 8 and June 19, 2022, Hustle was the most-viewed movie on Netflix, demonstrating Sandler’s ability to play a dramatic role.
3. The Unforgivable (2021)
The Unforgivable, which has an incredible 219.5 million viewing hours, has surpassed Sandra Bullock’s previous record for most watched Netflix film, Bird Box, in terms of hours watched.
The drama centers on a woman who killed a sheriff who attempted to evict her and her five-year-old sister. She was released from prison after serving her sentence.
The conclusion of The Unforgivable reveals a startling twist that must be seen to be believed as she departs to locate the younger sister she abandoned.
4. Purple Hearts (2022)
After being streamed for more than 240.4 million hours, the romantic drama Purple Hearts became one of the most popular films on Netflix ever.
Sofia Carson played the singer-songwriter Cassie, and Nicholas Galitzine played the marine Luke in one of the most popular Netflix films.
In the end, the two get married for convenience—Cassie needs health insurance for her diabetes, and Luke needs a spouse’s income to pay off debts from his previous relationship. Things get worse after Luke gets hurt returning from Iraq.
When Purple Hearts debuted in 2022, it even overtook The Gray Man as the third most-watched film of the year.
5. The Mother (2023)
Jennifer Lopez stars in The Mother, one of the most popular movies on Netflix, as a U.S. military operative.
Known only by this nickname, the Mother becomes an informant for the FBI after learning she is expecting a child and that her two lovers, arms dealer Hector Álvarez and former SAS captain Adrian Lovell, are involved in child trafficking.
With a distinctly original premise, it is a grand tale of peril, retaliation, and motherhood that takes place decades in the future.
6. Extraction 2 (2023)
Extraction 2, the action film starring Chris Hemsworth, has only been available on the massive streaming service for a few weeks, but in that time, it has risen to the top of the list of Netflix’s most-watched movies with its jaw-dropping visuals and intense action scenes.
The sequel to Extraction centers on black market mercenary Tyler Rake (Hemsworth), who retires from mercenary work after completing a mission in Bangladesh that risks his life.
But when his ex-wife’s sister and her two kids are abducted by Georgia’s biggest criminal organization, duty calls once more.
7. The Adam Project (2022)
Netflix and Ryan Reynolds keep demonstrating how well they work together. The Adam Project, the actor and producer’s next Netflix film after Red Notice and 6 Underground, quickly rose to the streaming service’s most popular list.
In the sci-fi time travel tale, which featured both spaceship dogfights and touching family moments, Ryan Reynolds mentors his younger self.
Along with Ryan Reynolds, The Adam Project’s cast included well-known actors like Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, and Zoe Saldana. With 260.5 million streamed hours, The Adam Project became one of the most popular films on Netflix.
8. The Gray Man (2022)
Two well-known actors and renowned filmmakers made The Gray Man one of the most viewed films on Netflix. Chris Evans, the captain of the Avengers, was cast as the villain (Lloyd) in The Gray Man, one of the Russo Brothers’ few most popular Netflix films.
The hero was played by Ryan Gosling (Six), a former assassin who is sent to take him out for wanting to leave. Audiences devoured the action-packed, spectacle-filled film, with over 265.9 million hours being streamed.
9. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery was not only one of the most viewed films on Netflix ever but was also regarded as one of the best by reviewers.
When the enigmatic Helen asks Benoit Blanc to serve as a detective to investigate the murder of her twin sister Andi, Benoit Blanc comes back.
Benoit follows the case to the private island of tech billionaire Miles, where he encounters a wealthy group of people, each with a motive for killing.
This was a unique film because the first Rian Johnson film was released in theaters, but the sequel was only available on Netflix.
10. Don’t Look Up (2021)
Don’t Look Up is the second most-watched Netflix movie of all time and among the best of the Netflix most-watched movies thanks to an Academy Award winner for the film’s directorship.
In the movie Don’t Look Up, a Ph.D. candidate from Michigan State discovered an apocalyptic-sized comet that is rapidly approaching Earth.
After being brought to tell the U.S. President about the candidate and her professor, they quickly find themselves entangled in a media circus. Nearly every scene in Don’t Look Up, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, featured a well-known name.