Picture Credits: Netflix
2025 was a year of extreme contradictions for Netflix’s original film slate. On one hand, we witnessed the resurrection of 90s comedy icons and the return of Cameron Diaz. We saw some “prestige” films putting up blockbuster numbers and KPOP Demon Hunters breaking every conventional rule. But beyond the headlines, what was actually a hit?
To determine the true winners and losers, we can’t just look at the marketing hype. We are using a dual-method approach: the Weekly Top 10 numbers (for launch performance) and the comprehensive Engagement Report (for long-term tail). By cross-referencing these two datasets, we can see not just what people clicked on, but what they actually stuck with.
Here is the definitive look at Netflix’s biggest movie hits and flops of 2025.
Best and Worst Movie Launches of 2025
Following in the footsteps of Frederic, our former resident data expert, we’re going to use the first 7-day and 14-day metric to put this launch list together. The 14-day metric is calculated by summing the actual views from the first full week and two full weeks and adding a weighted two-thirds (approx. 67%) of the second and third week’s views to account for the remaining four days (Mon–Thu), assuming viewership is heavier earlier in the week.
| Title | Release Date | Weeks in Top 10s | First 7-Days | First 14-Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Back in Action | 2025-01-17 | 6 | 78,000,000 | 105,866,667 |
| Happy Gilmore 2 | 2025-07-25 | 5 | 73,900,000 | 97,300,000 |
| Straw | 2025-06-06 | 5 | 57,900,000 | 87,533,333 |
| Frankenstein | 2025-11-07 | 5 | 51,633,333 | 72,633,333 |
| Havoc | 2025-04-25 | 6 | 47,466,667 | 62,366,667 |
| The Life List | 2025-03-28 | 6 | 43,866,667 | 62,333,333 |
| A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE | 2025-10-24 | 4 | 43,166,667 | 60,500,000 |
| My Oxford Year | 2025-08-01 | 4 | 42,733,333 | 59,133,333 |
| The Old Guard 2 | 2025-07-02 | 4 | 42,071,429 | 55,271,429 |
| The Woman in Cabin 10 | 2025-10-10 | 5 | 41,266,667 | 57,900,000 |
| The Electric State | 2025-03-14 | 4 | 40,200,000 | 52,766,667 |
| Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery | 2025-12-12 | 5 | 34,133,333 | 48,966,667 |
| Madea’s Destination Wedding | 2025-07-11 | 4 | 30,100,000 | 38,666,667 |
| Kinda Pregnant | 2025-02-05 | 3 | 29,014,286 | 40,028,571 |
| Nonnas | 2025-05-09 | 5 | 28,633,333 | 40,900,000 |
| The Wrong Paris | 2025-09-12 | 4 | 27,333,333 | 39,666,667 |
| KPop Demon Hunters | 2025-06-20 | 31 | 25,333,333 | 48,533,333 |
| Champagne Problems | 2025-11-19 | 3 | 24,614,286 | 36,385,714 |
| The Thursday Murder Club | 2025-08-28 | 4 | 24,480,952 | 38,209,524 |
| Plankton: The Movie | 2025-03-07 | 4 | 23,233,333 | 31,366,667 |
| My Secret Santa | 2025-12-03 | 4 | 22,728,571 | 36,414,286 |
| Jingle Bell Heist | 2025-11-26 | 2 | 22,271,429 | – |
| Ruth & Boaz | 2025-09-26 | 3 | 19,700,000 | 27,133,333 |
| Night Always Comes | 2025-08-15 | 2 | 19,500,000 | 23,600,000 |
| In Your Dreams | 2025-11-14 | 4 | 19,366,667 | 31,100,000 |
| La Dolce Villa | 2025-02-13 | 3 | 19,242,857 | 29,228,571 |
| Fear Street: Prom Queen | 2025-05-23 | 2 | 16,366,667 | – |
| A Merry Little Ex-Mas | 2025-11-12 | 3 | 15,371,429 | 22,942,857 |
| The Twits | 2025-10-17 | 3 | 11,300,000 | 16,200,000 |
| Jay Kelly | 2025-12-05 | 2 | 11,100,000 | – |
| Train Dreams | 2025-11-21 | 2 | 10,800,000 | – |
| Goodbye June | 2025-12-24 | 2 | 8,914,286 | – |
| Meet the Khumalos | 2025-04-11 | 2 | 8,600,000 | – |
| Ballad of a Small Player | 2025-10-29 | 2 | 8,300,000 | – |
| Semi-Soeter | 2025-06-20 | 2 | 5,733,333 | – |
| The Rats: A Witcher Tale | 2025-10-30 | 0 | – | |
| Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl | 2025-01-06 | 1 | – | – |
| The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep | 2025-02-11 | 1 | – | – |
| Love and Wine | 2025-12-05 | 0 | – | – |
| Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches | 2025-11-03 | 1 | – | – |
| Fixed | 2025-08-13 | 1 | – | – |
| Steve | 2025-10-03 | 0 | – | – |
| Dining With The Kapoors | 2025-11-21 | 0 | – | – |
| NOUVELLE VAGUE | 2025-11-14 | 0 | – | – |
Netflix Engagement Report 2025 Numbers
Next up, let’s take a look at the Netflix Engagement Report numbers, which report all views throughout 2025. Of course, doing that number on its own can be a bit misleading, given that viewership on Netflix movies tends to be frontloaded (ie, they do most of their business in the first few weeks, as outlined above)
| Title | Release Date | Days on Netflix | Total Views | Daily Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KPop Demon Hunters | 2025-06-20 | 194 | 518,300,000 | 2,671,649 |
| Back in Action | 2025-01-17 | 348 | 190,300,000 | 546,839 |
| Happy Gilmore 2 | 2025-07-25 | 159 | 135,100,000 | 849,686 |
| Straw | 2025-06-06 | 208 | 122,300,000 | 587,981 |
| The Life List | 2025-03-28 | 278 | 118,000,000 | 424,460 |
| Havoc | 2025-04-25 | 250 | 112,400,000 | 449,600 |
| Frankenstein | 2025-11-07 | 54 | 97,600,000 | 1,807,407 |
| The Electric State | 2025-03-14 | 292 | 87,000,000 | 297,945 |
| My Oxford Year | 2025-08-01 | 152 | 86,100,000 | 566,447 |
| The Old Guard 2 | 2025-07-02 | 182 | 81,500,000 | 447,802 |
| The Woman in Cabin 10 | 2025-10-10 | 82 | 80,400,000 | 980,488 |
| A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE | 2025-10-24 | 68 | 75,500,000 | 1,110,294 |
| Nonnas | 2025-05-09 | 236 | 73,500,000 | 311,441 |
| The Thursday Murder Club | 2025-08-28 | 125 | 68,800,000 | 550,400 |
| Plankton: The Movie | 2025-03-07 | 299 | 68,400,000 | 228,763 |
| Kinda Pregnant | 2025-02-05 | 329 | 66,500,000 | 202,128 |
| La Dolce Villa | 2025-02-13 | 321 | 63,800,000 | 198,754 |
| Madea’s Destination Wedding | 2025-07-11 | 173 | 60,300,000 | 348,555 |
| The Wrong Paris | 2025-09-12 | 110 | 58,000,000 | 527,273 |
| Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery | 2025-12-12 | 19 | 56,300,000 | 2,963,158 |
| Champagne Problems | 2025-11-19 | 42 | 49,800,000 | 1,185,714 |
| My Secret Santa | 2025-12-03 | 28 | 49,600,000 | 1,771,429 |
| In Your Dreams | 2025-11-14 | 47 | 47,300,000 | 1,006,383 |
| Jingle Bell Heist | 2025-11-26 | 35 | 40,300,000 | 1,151,429 |
| A Merry Little Ex-Mas | 2025-11-12 | 49 | 39,200,000 | 800,000 |
| Ruth & Boaz | 2025-09-26 | 96 | 37,100,000 | 386,458 |
| Night Always Comes | 2025-08-15 | 138 | 31,300,000 | 226,812 |
| Fear Street: Prom Queen | 2025-05-23 | 222 | 27,500,000 | 123,874 |
| The Twits | 2025-10-17 | 75 | 22,000,000 | 293,333 |
| Meet the Khumalos | 2025-04-11 | 264 | 18,200,000 | 68,939 |
| Jay Kelly | 2025-12-05 | 26 | 18,000,000 | 692,308 |
| Train Dreams | 2025-11-21 | 40 | 17,700,000 | 442,500 |
| Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl | 2025-01-06 | 359 | 17,300,000 | 48,189 |
| Ballad of a Small Player | 2025-10-29 | 63 | 15,300,000 | 242,857 |
| The Rats: A Witcher Tale | 2025-10-30 | 62 | 14,000,000 | 225,806 |
| Goodbye June | 2025-12-24 | 7 | 11,000,000 | 1,571,429 |
| The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep | 2025-02-11 | 323 | 9,400,000 | 29,102 |
| The Biggest Fan | 2025-05-01 | 244 | 8,300,000 | 34,016 |
| Semi-Soeter | 2025-06-20 | 194 | 8,100,000 | 41,753 |
| Love and Wine | 2025-12-05 | 26 | 6,500,000 | 250,000 |
| Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches | 2025-11-03 | 58 | 5,800,000 | 100,000 |
| Fixed | 2025-08-13 | 140 | 5,200,000 | 37,143 |
| Steve | 2025-10-03 | 89 | 5,000,000 | 56,180 |
| Dining With The Kapoors | 2025-11-21 | 40 | 3,400,000 | 85,000 |
| NOUVELLE VAGUE | 2025-11-14 | 47 | 100,000 | 2,128 |
The Analysis: Anomalies, Blockbusters, and Disasters
Let’s pick out the blindingly obvious outlier on the first list compared to the second. Using the launch measurement, KPOP Demon Hunters looks barely a hit, but that’s because early on, it was not a hit. Its story didn’t really begin until week 3 and onward, when it became the behemoth it eventually became, defying gravity and all conventional ways a Netflix movie should behave. Generally speaking, viewership is stacked upfront and decays dramatically. KPOP Demon Hunters didn’t behave like this at all. A true unicorn, and the question becomes: will Netflix ever be able to replicate this again?
However, if we look strictly at “heat,” there is a hidden champion on this list. While it launched late in the year, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is statistically the hottest movie of 2025. Looking at the “Daily Average” in the Engagement Report, the film is generating 2.96 million views per day. That is higher than any other movie on the list—including the unicorn KPOP Demon Hunters (2.67M). It didn’t just have a good launch; pound-for-pound, it was attracting eyeballs faster than anything else this year.
Legs vs. Hype: Back in Action and Happy Gilmore 2
We need to talk about the difference between a “launch” and a “hit.” Both Back in Action and Happy Gilmore 2 dominate the charts, but the data shows they behaved very differently.
Back in Action had the biggest launch of the year (106M views in 14 days) and finished with 190M views. That means it generated roughly 84 million views after its launch window. Compare that to Happy Gilmore 2, which launched to 97M but finished with 135M—meaning it only found 38 million views post-launch. Happy Gilmore 2 was a burst of nostalgia that evaporated quickly; Back in Action had actual legs, continuing to find new audiences for months.
Straw. Taraji P. Henson as Janiyah Wiltkinson in Straw. Cr. Chip Bergmann/Perry Well Films 2/Courtesy Netflix ©2025
A special shoutout to Tyler Perry, too, whose movie STRAW is one of Netflix’s biggest hits of the year and probably one of the most “efficient” (taking into account budget), and it was helped by the movie going absolutely bonkers viral on TikTok, which led to an explosion early in its life on the streamer.
Prestige or Blockbuster?
Elsewhere, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein blurred the line between awards bait and summer blockbuster. Calling it a “prestige play” almost does it a disservice. With a massive 72.6M launch, it significantly outperformed pure action titles like Havoc, The Life List, and The Old Guard 2.
At the other end of the spectrum, Cillian Murphy’s STEVE stands as the biggest whiff among the awards hopefuls, ranking among the lowest performers of the year. Ballad of a Small Player and Jay Kelly also posted lukewarm numbers, the latter notably failing to deliver Adam Sandler’s usual draw. Train Dreams did not initially generate significant viewership either, although that may change following its Oscar nominations. One notable outlier is NOUVELLE VAGUE, which we debated including at all, given that it launched in just a single Netflix region.
Picture: The Life List – Netflix
Romantic comedies continue to do well on Netflix, with The Life List ultimately taking home the prize as the most-watched of the year. However, the data confirms a specific winner in the “Christmas Cannibalization” battle. Despite launching a week later than Jingle Bell Heist, the rom-com My Secret Santa overtook it in total views (49.6M vs 40.3M). It seems the rom-com formula had a higher ceiling this year than the star-driven heist caper.
The Flops: Animation and Franchise Fatigue
When it comes to disappointments, animation had a so-so year. Titles didn’t quite connect in the same way as KPOP, with titles like The Twits and In Your Dreams getting below 20M views in their first week. Wallace & Gromit also struggled, though in that instance, the UK was notably not included in its Netflix launch. Adult animated movies won’t be making a comeback anytime soon, with Fixed only spending a few days in the top 10s.
The Electric State probably deserves a mention, although it didn’t do quite as badly as many suggest; for the budget, though, it should’ve done a lot better. Fear Street: Prom Queen also disappointed when compared to the trilogy of movies, pulling in significantly lower views than prior entries.
Finally, we have to look at the data for The Witcher universe, which paints a picture of a franchise in freefall. Following season 4 failing to muster much interest on the TV side, the spinoff movie The Rats scored zero weeks in the Global Top 10. For a spinoff of a flagship IP to fail to chart at all in its debut week is catastrophic and implies the audience is actively rejecting brand expansions. Likewise, the animated film Sirens of the Deep fell off sharply from prior entries.
What’s your biggest movie viewership surprise in 2025? Let us know in the comments down below.
