Netflix really did a number on its users last week when The Cloverfield Pardox landed on the streaming service out of nowhere. Though rumours had leaked out about plans to keep the third entry in the Cloverfield franchise away from cinemas, it was still a shock when the Super Bowl trailer for the movie announced it was going to be available on Netflix that night. It was a risky strategy, as the lack of marketing could have severely impacted its success, but now we know that wasn’t the case at all.
A new report from Nielsen (as revealed by The Hollywood Reporter) states that The Cloverfield Paradox was watched by 2.8 million users in its first three days. This then went up to 5 million after the first week. In comparison to Netflix’s last big film release, however, it’s not quite as impressive, as David Ayer’s Bright, starring Will Smith, clocked 11 million views in just three days.
On the flipside, though, the movie’s turn-out on the streaming service does suggest that it would have made decent money at the box office if it was released in cinemas. If those 2.8 million people had all bought tickets to see the film on the big screen, for instance, that would have put its opening weekend gross at around $20-30 million, which would have been significantly higher than the actual box office contenders of that period: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Maze Runner: The Death Cure.Â
Of course, no one can say what percentage of Netflix users would genuinely have gone to see The Cloverfield Paradox in theaters. It’s a lot easier to click on a film from the comfort of your own home than to go to the effort of seeing it on the big screen, after all. Still, these figures may make Paramount consider their options more carefully when releasing the upcoming fourth installment in the Cloverfield series, which is currently going by the title Overlord.
As it stands, it’s believed to be headed down the traditional route and is expected to hit cinemas on October 26th, but that could easily change. In the meantime, if you aren’t one of the millions who’ve already seen The Cloverfield Paradox, you can catch it on Netflix now.
