Without fail, any splashy Netflix original that boasts a decent-sized, budget, a high concept, and a raft of big names is guaranteed to score a monstrous debut on the streaming service’s worldwide viewership charts, so why has They Cloned Tyrone conspired to disappoint?
The presence of John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, and Teyonah Parris unraveling an underground conspiracy in a genre-bending sci-fi action comedy laced with biting satirical socioeconomic undertones was deservedly lauded by critics, to the extent that it ranks as one of the platform’s best-reviewed original blockbusters of all-time.
In fact, if you count Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman as a prestige drama (which you should, because he’d hate if you called it a blockbuster), then the only one of Netflix’s live-action escapades boasting significant CGI and a succession of action sequences to have fared better than They Cloned Tyrone‘s 92 percent Rotten Tomatoes approval rating is last year’s Enola Holmes 2, but that hasn’t been enough to prevent a debut that could generously be described as underwhelming.
Per FlixPatrol, They Cloned Tyrone might be the number one top-viewed feature in the United States, but it’s only cracked the Top 10 in 28 countries overall to claim seventh spot on the global charts. That doesn’t make a lick of sense, but then again, is Barbenheimer potentially to blame?
Given that almost everyone has headed out to the theater to catch either Barbie or Oppenheimer this weekend – launching them to obscene heights at the box office as a result – maybe there wasn’t enough attention being paid to a rave-reviewed Netflix exclusive, so hopefully They Cloned Tyrone will find the audience it deserves in the days and weeks to come.
Published: Jul 23, 2023 11:33 am