Even Netflix Can’t Ignore The ‘Leave The World Behind’ Similarities Surrounding The Great Cell Phone Outage Of Feb. 22

Netflix‘s 2023 apocalyptic thriller Leave The World Behind begins with a nationwide power outage which left phones, internet, and TV completely unusable and sends Ethan Hawke into a panic. Seems more like a horror movie, no Well, that horror (almost) came to life this morning when massive cell phone outages were reported by AT&T, Verizon, and other companies across the country. Bringing back Nextel seems like an idea right about now.

AT&T reported over 73,000 outages this morning in major locations including Houston, Atlanta, and Chicago. AT&T confirmed the outages, but also assured customers they were working on a solution. “Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning. We are working urgently to restore service to them. We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored,” AT&T said in a statement. Of course, a statement like that simply cannot stop the Leave The World Behind comparisons which caused an online frenzy even Netflix couldn’t ignore (unlike those Avatar reviews).

— Netflix (@netflix) February 22, 2024

If you haven’t seen Leave The World Behind, which also stars Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Myha’la Herrold, and Kevin Bacon, you might be concerned to know that the movie essentially ends with bombs falling. But they take comfort in some Friends DVDs!

Sure, the Obama-produced movie isn’t exactly like a minor (hopefully) cell phone outage, but the internet sure acted like it was the end of the world: