In the past ten days, one small feature has taken Netflix audiences by storm, the romantic drama purple hearts. The politically themed feature, which combines a modern left-vs-right plot with the trope of convenience marriage, has racked up huge streaming numbers on the platform. In its first week, the film premiered with 48 million hours streamed in its first week, jumping to 102 million hours streamed in week two, and has now added 46 million overtime hours in the third week. Nowadays purple hearts managed to be watched over 196 million hours on Netflix. The movie isn’t finished either and could very well be in Netflix’s All-Time Top 10.
With over 196 million total hours, after just 17 of its “first 28 day” window, purple hearts is about to become one of the most-watched movies on Netflix. For comparison, the last four Top 10 movies of all time on Netflix all have pretty similar numbers. 6 Underground is currently No. 10 with over 205 million hours streamed in its first month, followed by The Kissing Booth 2 with just over 209 million hours. The titles in seventh and eighth positions are very close with The Irishman sitting at 214.57 million hours and The Unforgivable just north of 214.7 million.
Knowing how movie viewership tends to perform in the first four weeks on Netflix, purple hearts will almost certainly jump into the Top 10 this time next week; and when he does, he’ll kick the role of Ryan Reynolds 6 Underground out of the Top 10 entirely. The fact that the movie could jump as high as the #7 all-time position is something no one saw coming, but it could very well become more popular than a Michael Bay or Martin movie. Scorsese shows how huge the movie was. been like a success for the streamer.
Given Netflix’s recent financial struggles, the fact that a mid-budget movie can challenge its $200 million blockbusters could very well influence its strategy going forward. Following a sharp drop in their stock price and the announcement of their intention to make fewer films, but on a larger scale, it is ironic that a film on a smaller scale would generate such a large number of viewers.
Despite its success, purple hearts nevertheless managed to develop a certain controversy, with many viewers calling it “military propaganda” (H/T The Tab) and others noting that he has ““Allusions to racism, misogyny and anti-LGBTQ sentiments.” (H/T Sportskeeda).”
Check back here as we continue to follow the unprecedented success of this film, with a sequel almost certainly to follow.
