It doesn’t matter how many disparate hits and misses of different genres Netflix has at its disposal, the erotic thriller will always win out in the end. If any more evidence was needed – which really shouldn’t be necessary at this point – Burning Betrayal has debuted as the streaming service’s biggest new movie.
Not content with topping the most-watched charts in 46 countries around the world, the sizzling tale of love, lust, and inhibition has racked up 24.3 million hours watched and 14.7 million total views following its premiere. While that wasn’t quite enough to dislodge the 28.2 million and 16.3 of the panned Old Dads, Bill Burr’s dismal comedy is in its second week.
In terms of new arrivals, though, Burning Betrayal handily crushed Liam Neeson’s resurgent action thriller The Ice Road, easily outpaced acclaimed supernatural horror sequel Sister Death, swatted away billion-dollar behemoth Minions like it wasn’t even there, and made mincemeat of Chris Evans and Emily Blunt’s rather tragic Pain Hustlers.
As much as cinematic eroticism is virtually bulletproof anytime it even casts a longing gaze at Netflix’s customer base, not many of them tend to perform anywhere near as well as Burning Betrayal. Sure, they draw plenty of eyeballs with the promise of salacious storylines and steamy scenes, but reaching the summit of both the worldwide watch-list and Netflix’s internal Top 10 for both English and foreign-language titles is an undeniably impressive accomplishment that continues to justify the company’s willingness to get into the business of onscreen titillation.
