Coronavirus Crisis Has Made Outbreak One of Netflix’s Most Popular Movies

Ever since Netflix debuted its Top 10 list, users have kept a close eye on what movies and TV shows have been the most popular on the service. It’s pretty fitting that, ever since the coronavirus pandemic has affected the United States over the past few weeks, Outbreak has remained one of the most-watched films on all of Netflix. Stuck at home due to a spreading virus, Netflix users are watching a movie about exactly that. Seems counterproductive, doesn’t it?

At the time of writing this article on Tuesday afternoon, 1995’s Outbreak is sitting at number seven on the Netflix Top 10. It hasn’t reached the highest spot on the list at any point since it’s arrived on the streaming service, but it hasn’t really dropped off of the list either. Every single day, people are logging on to Netflix to watch it.

Outbreak, directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by Laurence Dworet and Robert Roy Pool, was released in theaters in 1995. The film follows a group of Army doctors who race to find a cure to a deadly virus that has been spreading through a town in California. The source of the entire virus? A small African monkey. Dustin Hoffman stars alongside Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Cuba Gooding Jr., Donald Sutherland, and Patrick Dempsey.

Let’s be honest, right now might be the worst time to watch Outbreak. It’s a fictional story about a fictional disease back in the ’90s. It likely won’t offer any peace during the difficult time we’re in right now, only panic about the worst possible scenarios.

The same sentiment goes for Stephen Soderbergh’s Contagion, which depicted an even more terrifying situation than the one in Outbreak. Contagion isn’t streaming on Netflix, but it has become one of the most rented and purchased films on video on-demand platforms. If it was on Netflix, it would likely land even higher on the Top 10 list than Outbreak.

Have you watched Outbreak on Netflix lately? Does it still hold up? Let us know in the comments.