‘Murder Mystery’ (Photo credit: Netflix).
While Australians might like to think their tastes in movies and TV shows often are markedly different to Americans, that isn’t true when it comes to the most watched shows on Netflix.
There is a high degree of overlap between the two countries in the lists of the most popular titles of 2019 released by the streamer last week.
Murder Mystery, the feature comedy starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston was the top show while Michael Bay’s 6 Underground, an action thriller starring Ryan Reynolds, ranked second in Australia and third in the US.
Stranger Things 3, The Irishman, The Witcher, Triple Frontier and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile also figured among the top 10 in both.
Netflix’s The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, a true-crime series directed by Chris Smith, was the most popular documentary in Australia, resonating more strongly here than in the US where it ranked seventh in that genre.
Factual shows Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, Our Planet, FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, HOMECOMING: A film by Beyoncé, Don’t F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer, Street Food: Volume 1 and Kevin Hart: Don’t F**k This Up were common to both.
The top ranking of Murder Mystery is no surprise as Netflix had reported the the film directed by Kyle Newacheck and written by James Vanderbilt drew 73 million viewers, ahead of 53 million for J. C. Chandor’s Triple Frontier, an action adventure starring Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac and Charlie Hunnam.
Martin Scorcese’s The Irishman and John Lee Hancock’s crime drama The Highwaymen, toplined by Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson, both had 40 million.
Sandler plays a New York cop with Aniston as his hairdresser wife. The couple gets caught up in a murder investigation on a billionaire’s yacht.
As 6 Underground premiered on December 13, the streamer based its ranking on 28-day projections derived from the initial sampling.
Top 10 documentaries in Australia:
The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann: Season 1
Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes: Limited Series
Our Planet: Season 1
FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
Don’t F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer: Limited Series
Kevin Hart: Don’t F**k This Up: Season 1
HOMECOMING: A film by Beyoncé
Dirty John: The Dirty Truth
The Great Hack
Street Food: Volume 1: Asia