Netflix’s Most Popular Films of 2022 Will Shock You

Netflix has released the list of its Most Popular Films of 2022, and some of the top qualifiers are… surprising to say the least. Obviously, the films in question are ones that streamed on Netflix, making it somewhat biased – but even so, you may be surprised to see films like Day Shift, Purple Hearts, and Enola Holmes 2 were the hits of 2022 – not to mention the year’s no. 1 pick, which was The Gray Man. 

Check out the full list of Netflix’s Most Popular Films of 2022, below: 

Avengers: Endgame directors launched a whole new action movie franchise world with The Gray Man, starring Ryan Gosling, Ana De Armas, and Chris Evans. The Gray Man was the most-watched film in over 80 countries, racking upwards of over 253 million hours of viewing time. Netflix got an entire franchise oppoturnity out of it (a sequel movie and spinoff are already in the works), so seeing it at the top of this list makes sense – even if critics weren’t so keen on the movie. 

Similarly, the Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy time travel sci-fi actioner The Adam Project was a big hit for the streamer in 2022, largely off the strong momentum Reynolds and Levy built up with their previous project together, Free Guy. After helping Netflix score another solid blockbuster film victory, Reynolds and Levy got announced as the duo doing Marvel’s next Deadpool movie. 

Purlple Hearts was the young romance film MVP of the year for Netflix, toppling The Gray Man from its no. 1 spot after just a week and quicklly did massive viewership numbers – including more views in its second week of release than the next five films combined! Adam Sandler continued his impressive film run (following Uncut Gems) with the sports drama Hustle, which may even earn him some awards consideration. Rounding out the top 5, The Tinder Swindler was this year’s Tiger King, offering a true crime documentary story so bizarre it became part of the zeigiest. Unfortunately, the titular con man is now free and still involved with some questionable operations, so…. 

The younger crowd was clearly also something Netflix was after (and got); animated film The Sea Beast, mystery movie sequel Enola Holmes 2. and Rebel Wilson comedy Senior Year all made the Top 10. Finally black actors like Kevin Hart and Jamie Foxx made an impact, drawing their fanbases to Netflix genre films like Day Shift (action/horror) and The Man From Toronto (action comedy).

How many movies on Netflix’s Top 10 list did you watch?