Netflix has been revealing more detailed insights into how long people actually stick around to watch their movies, and the results have been fascinating. These films aren’t just popular; they get rewound, replayed, and rewatched over and over again. From thrillers to feel-good flicks, these are the films that have hooked us the longest, for better or worse.
Grab your snacks, ‘cause these are the most watched Netflix movies of all time—the ones that had us glued to our screens (and apparently, our couches).
All data is accurate as of April 27, 2025.
Looking for more streaming recommendations? Check out our guides to the best TV shows available on Netflix, AppleTV, Hulu, Peacock, and HBO Max, plus the best movies on Hulu, Peacock, Netflix, AppleTV, and Tubi.
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Stars: YaYa Gosselin, Pedro Pascal, Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Release Date: December 25, 2020
Viewing Hours: 137.3 million
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl walked so We Can Be Heroes could run. The latter is both a standalone and legacy that follows a group of kids with superpowers who band together to save their parents—and the world—from alien invaders. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, We Can Be Heroes channels a familiar nostalgic charm while introducing a fresh cast with some big names. While the film certainly didn’t carry the same cultural weight as Sharkboy and Lavagirl (and, to be fair, no one expected it to), it undoubtedly found its audience in younger viewers and snuck its way into the top 10 spot on this list. Maybe this is what it feels like to achieve unc status as a Sharkboy and Lavagirl OG.
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Stars: Millie Bobby Brown, Angela Bassett, Ray Winstone
Release Date: March 8, 2024
Viewing Hours: 138.0 million
In Damsel, Princess Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown) pulls an uno reverse on the classic fairy tale trope, challenging the “damsel in distress” narrative by becoming a fierce heroine in her own right. After agreeing to marry a charming prince (Nick Robinson) as part of a political alliance to save her struggling kingdom, Elodie quickly discovers the ceremony is a ruse: she’s been chosen as a human sacrifice, hurled into a cavern to be devoured by a fire-breathing dragon. But instead of waiting to be rescued, Elodie claws her way back with sheer grit and growing fury.
Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo crafts a tightly paced survival tale that balances grim fairy tale imagery with themes of female agency—helped by solid performances from Robin Wright as the steely queen and Shohreh Aghdashloo as the chilling voice of the dragon. While the story doesn’t reinvent the genre, its fierce feminist undertones, slick graphics (the visuals in this movie are stunning), and Brown’s increasingly confident screen presence make Damsel a compelling watch—and a sharp rebuttal to the idea that every princess needs saving. We also get to see Millie Bobby Brown flexing her versatility as an actress, shifting gears from her role in Stranger Things to star in a more dramatic film. With a strong supporting cast to boot, Damsel is a solid entry into the Netflix original lineup, clocking in at ninth most-watched of all time.
Directors: Joe Russo, Anthony Russo
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas
Release Date: July 22, 2022
Viewing Hours: 139.3 million
Expect lots of car chases, helicopter crashes, and gunfights with this film. The Gray Man sees Ryan Gosling as Sierra Six, a former CIA operative turned assassin, who’s forced into a deadly game of cat and mouse with his adversary (a sociopathic villain played by Chris Evans). If the Russo brothers’ previous work on Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame set the stage for high-octane filmmaking, The Gray Man takes that intensity and amps it up even further. The frenetic pace and rapid-fire editing make you feel like you’re caught in the middle of a first-person shooter game; in fact, many critics cite this sensory overload as a drawback.
Regardless, you’ll be thoroughly entertained when watching this film—What’s not to like about a Ryan Gosling hero and Chris Evans villain dynamic?
Director: Sam Esmail
Stars: Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke
Release Date: December 8, 2023
Viewing Hours: 143.4 million
Leave the World Behind is a psychological thriller exploring modern anxieties in the face of an apocalypse. Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke star as Amanda and Clay Sandford, a couple trying to escape their chaotic lives with a weekend getaway in a swanky Long Island home. Their peace gets wrecked when the home’s owner (played by Mahershala Ali) shows up with his daughter, claiming that NYC is basically shut down due to a massive power outage. The two families ride out the apocalypse together. It’s not an original movie by any means in terms of apocalyptic premise, but director Sam Esmail weaves in themes of technology, racial tensions, and human vulnerability into a gripping narrative.
Fun detail: The film was executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama.
Director: Seth Gordon
Stars: Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx, Glenn Close
Release Date: January 17, 2025
Viewing Hours: 147.2 million
Back in Action is less of a triumphant comeback and more of a warm-up lap—but hey, we’ll take any excuse to see Cameron Diaz back on our screens after a decade away. Teaming up with Jamie Foxx (again), Diaz plays a former spy turned suburban mom who gets dragged back into the world of espionage when her cover’s blown—kids and all. It’s your classic “family field trip meets international gunfight” setup, sprinkled with sitcom one-liners, chaotic action sequences, and a soundtrack that feels like one of Spotify’s AI-generated romcom playlists.
The movie doesn’t reinvent the action-comedy wheel, but Diaz’s charm is still intact, and Foxx brings the swagger. While the script leans a little too hard into goofy dad jokes and British accents (we see you, Glenn Close and Jamie Demetriou), it’s at least self-aware enough to feel like a live-action meme. Back in Action isn’t a knockout, but it’s a decent start to Diaz’s second act, and if nothing else, it reminds us just how much we missed her.
Director: Susanne Bier
Stars: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich
Release Date: December 21, 2018
Viewing Hours: 157.4 million
It was the thriller that had everyone talking back in 2018, and nearly 7 years later, Bird Box has remained a mainstay in the Netflix ecosystem. If you weren’t lucky enough to watch it with friends in your college dorm like I did, here’s the lowdown: Sandra Bullock goes full doomsday drill sergeant as Mallory, a woman trying to guide two terrified kids down a river blindfolded, because in this apocalypse, looking = instant death. The cause? Unseen monsters that apparently moonlight as mental health metaphors and leave you smashing your face into the nearest window. The plot jumps around a bit and can get confusing, but emotional stakes get sacrificed for sheer cast volume. You want iconic actors and MGK in the same house? Say less.
The scares in this movie are effective until they aren’t, and the logic isn’t always, you know, there. But still, Bird Box had the whole internet in a chokehold when it dropped (2018 Twitter was a time). I call it the perfect movie for the TikTok era: moody, a little chaotic, and 100% designed to go viral.
Director: Shawn Levy
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner
Release Date: March 11, 2022
Viewing Hours: 157.6 million
Ryan Reynolds plays yet another quippy, slightly broken man-child in this film, but this time, he’s literally talking to his younger self. When future Adam crash-lands in 2022 while dodging invisible spaceships (don’t ask), he teams up with 12-year-old Adam, who’s dealing with bullies and asthma. The plot? Think “save the future, rescue the wife, unpack childhood trauma”. Just add CGI drone fights.
The Adam Project is emotionally sweet, visually slick, and scientifically… eh, don’t think too hard. It’s less about understanding time loops and more about what you’d do if you could rewind life for a minute. If that idea alone appeals to you, this is the movie for you—plus, who doesn’t love a lil existential crisis with their laser swords?
Director: Adam McKay
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Timothée Chalamet
Release Date: December 24, 2021
Viewing Hours: 171.4 million
This doomsday satire is what happens when The Big Short and SNL get locked in a panic room during the end of the world. Leo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence play two astronomers who discover a giant extinction-level comet headed straight for Earth—and no one cares because everyone’s too busy thirst-tweeting, arguing with trolls, or obsessing over brain rot. (So, not too far off to reality.) Meryl Streep channels her inner girlboss as the President, and Jonah Hill is her nepo baby chief of staff. And yes, the comet is really just a metaphor for climate change. Subtle? Absolutely not. But neither is the apocalypse.
Don’t Look Up swings hard at everything—celeb culture, fake news, Big Tech, capitalism, podcast brain—and somehow hits most of it, even if it feels like being yelled at by your very funny but deeply stressed-out friend for 2.5 hours. The tone is chaotic and the message is blunt. Is it a perfect satire? No. But if it convinces even one person to care more about the planet than what TikToker is getting canceled, maybe it’s already done its job (It’s in the top 3 most-watched, after all.) TL;DR: it’s climate anxiety, but make it Hollywood.
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Stars: Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, Sofia Carson
Release Date: December 13, 2024
Viewing Hours: 172.1 million
Carry-On is a mid-air thriller that sounds like a cheeky British reboot but is actually just a moderately intense Netflix flick with zero double entendres and 100% TSA anxiety. Taron Egerton plays an airport security agent who gets pulled into a sky-high hostage situation when Jason Bateman—a character giving evil PTA dad with a bomb—forces him to smuggle explosives onto a flight. It’s a solid, straight-faced slice of tension that could’ve been a tight 90 minutes, but instead clocks in at almost 2 hours. The strategic timing of the film’s release captured the holiday travel crowd, and while the movie itself leaves a lot to be desired, you will be eyeing your cabin bag a little differently.
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, Ritu Arya
Release Date: Nov. 12, 2021
Viewing Hours: 230.9 million
Red Notice is Netflix’s $200 million flex—a globe-trotting heist caper that throws The Rock, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot into a chaotic chase for three mythical golden eggs once gifted to Cleopatra. Johnson plays a gruff FBI profiler wrongfully framed for art theft, Reynolds is a motor-mouthed master thief with daddy issues, and Gadot is the mysterious criminal known only as “The Bishop”, always three steps ahead and dressed like she raided the world’s most glamorous closet.
The trio bounces from Rome to Russia to the Amazon in a blur of double-crosses, prison breaks, and over-the-top set pieces, with enough explosions and exotic locales to justify its blockbuster budget. It may not be original or deep, but as far as algorithmic star-powered spectacle goes, Red Notice gets the job done—it’s the most-watched Netflix movie of all time for a reason. Just don’t think too hard while watching.