Over the past ten days, a small feature film has taken Netflix’s audience by storm, the romantic-drama Purple Hearts. The politically-themed feature, which couples a modern Left vs Right plot with the Marriage of Convenience trope, has racked up HUGE streaming numbers on the platform. In its first week the movie premiered with 48 million hours streamed in its first week, leaping up to 102 million hours streamed in week two, and now has added another 46 million hours in week three. To date Purple Hearts has managed to be watched over 196 million hours on Netflix. The film isn’t done either, and could very well leap into the All-Time Netflix Top 10.
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With over 196 million hours total, after just 17 of its “First 28 Days” window, Purple Hearts is within striking distance of becoming one of the most watched movies on Netflix ever. For comparison’s sake, the bottom four movies on the All-Time Top 10 on Netflix all have pretty similar numbers. 6 Underground is currently #10 with over 205 million hours streamed in its first month, followed by The Kissing Booth 2 with just over 209 million hours. Titles in seventh and eighth position are very close with The Irishman sitting at 214.57 million hours and The Unforgivable having just north of 214.7 million.
Knowing how movie viewership tends to work in the first four weeks on Netflix, Purple Hearts will almost certainly leap into the Top 10 this time next week; and when it does it will kick the Ryan Reynolds-starring 6 Underground out of the Top 10 entirely. The fact that the film could jump as high as the All-Time #7 position is something no one saw coming though, but that it very well could become more popular than a Michael Bay or a Martin Scorsese movie just shows how huge the film has been as a success story for the streamer.
Considering the recent financial hardships that Netflix has been undergoing, that a mid-budget movie could challenge their $200 million blockbusters could very well influence their strategy going forward. Following a huge dip in their stock price, and an announcement that they intend to make fewer movies, but on a bigger scale, it’s ironic that a film on a smaller scale would generate such huge viewership numbers.
Despite its success, Purple Hearts has still managed to develop some controversy, with many viewers calling it “military propaganda” (H/T The Tab) and others noting that it has ““hints of racism, misogyny and anti-LGBTQ sentiments.” (H/T Sportskeeda).”
Check back here as we continue to track this film’s unprecedented success, with a sequel almost certainly to follow.
