Netflix’s ‘Bet On Dead’ Paid Off With An Astonishing Number Of Views For Zack Snyder’s ‘Army Of The Dead’

Netflix “Always Bet On Dead” tagline for Army of the Dead resulted in a gamble that paid off handsomely. Following all the fuss over Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the director was poised to pull in an enormous amount of household views for his return to the zombie realm, and that’s what happened. According to Netflix, at least 72 million viewers have watched at least part of the flick starring Dave Bautista, a CGI zombie tiger, and a green-screened (but still hot to the Internet) Tig Notaro.

This apparently occurred within one week of the movie’s streaming release:

ARMY OF THE DEAD has been the #1 film around the world and is projected to be one of Netflix’s most popular films ever in its first 4 weeks. pic.twitter.com/85foTPFAny

— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) May 28, 2021

As for where Army of the Dead‘s currently stacking up to the rest of Netflix’s barn burners, freaking Bird Box will not be ousted from its runner-up spot anytime soon. Deadline has an updated Top 10 list of the streamer’s most watched movie titles:

1. Extraction – 99 Million

2. Bird Box – 89 Million

3. Spenser Confidential – 85 Million

4. 6 Underground – 83 Million

5. Murder Mystery – 83 Million

6. The Old Guard – 78 Million

7. Enola Holmes – 76 Million

8. Project Power – 75 Million

9. (tied) The Midnight Sky and Army of the Dead – 72 Million

A lot of action movies and a few sides of Adam Sandler and Henry Cavill sounds about right for Netflix’s most popular flicks. Who would have thought that a relatively low key Jamie Foxx movie about temporary, drugged-out superpowers would have scored at #8 Meanwhile, zombies are about to knock George Clooney out of the running altogether. Granted, Netflix calculates views based upon a minimum number of minutes that people keep a film playing. They don’t have to watch even close to the entire movie to register as a view, and Army of the Dead is a relatively long movie at 2 hours and 28 minutes, so it’s worth noting that detail. Still, 72 million (claimed) views is a ton of views. Betting on dead truly pays off.