‘The Old Guard’ Being Hailed by Netflix as a Record-Breaking Success!!!

Netflix is already sharing data and insights to suggest The Old Guard is a massive hit with viewers just one week after its release. The newest original to hit the streaming giant is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and stars Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Adapted from the Greg Rucka comics series of the same name, The Old Guard tells the story of a group of immortal warriors who recruit a new fighter into their ranks and facing off against a pharma bro keen to use their special gift for his own gain.

On Friday, Netflix shared insights on The Old Guard‘s success with subscribers just one week after the movie’s July 10 release. Tweeting via their Netflix Film account, Netflix revealed, “The Old Guard is breaking records! The Charlize Theron blockbuster is already among the top 10 most popular Netflix films ever — and Gina Prince-Bythewood is the first Black female director on the list. The film is currently on track to reach 72M households in its first 4 weeks!”

72 million households is a mighty impressive projection, as is the early celebration of The Old Guard‘s success with viewers. However, it’s worth noting Netflix’s metric for these kinds of jaw-dropping numbers is less than thrilling. As we’ve reported in the past, Netflix has noted (in the fine print of their reports the viewership stats they choose to make public) viewing totals are tallied by counting the number of subscribers who’ve watched at least two minutes of a movie or TV show. It’s unclear if that metric has changed in recent months. If it hasn’t, then this early excitement over The Old Guard‘s impact with viewers might have a bit of a pall over it.

THE OLD GUARD is breaking records! The Charlize Theron blockbuster is already among the top 10 most popular Netflix films ever — and Gina Prince-Bythewood is the first Black female director on the list.

The film is currently on track to reach 72M households in its first 4 weeks! pic.twitter.com/pM8vOTNa6m

— Netflix Tudum (@NetflixTudum) July 18, 2020

The Old Guard joins a mixed bag of Netflix originals in the streamer’s top 10 movies, with numbers based on millions of households. Other movies in this list include: Extraction (99M); Bird Box (89M); 6 Underground (83M); The Irishman (64M); The Wrong Missy (59M); and The Platform (56M). If The Old Guard manages to hit Netflix’s projected reach of 72 million households, its position at number six on this list will be cemented. More importantly, as Netflix’s tweet points out, The Old Guard‘s viewership numbers and potential success will also mean big success for Prince-Bythewood. No matter how this all shakes out, a win for Prince-Bythewood is always a heartening takeaway.