While Netflix‘s bonkers documentary Tiger King is taking over the world right now, two surprising films are dominating the streaming service’s newly-added Top 10 movie section.
The current #1 film on Netflix is the Mel Gibson-led Blood Father, a thriller about an ex-con reuniting with his estranged 17-year old daughter to help protect her from drug dealers seeking to end her life. The pic didn’t fare too well at the box office, bringing in just under $7,000,000 worldwide against its estimated $13,000,000 budget. Even so, critics praised the film, earning it a certified fresh rating of 89% on aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.
Its addition to the Netflix catalog seems to be turning it into a bit of a cult hit now, and with a runtime of only 90 minutes, it might just be worth checking out while you’re stuck at home in self-quarantine from the COVID-19 coronavirus. You can thank us later.
2019’s Western flick Badland is another film that flew under the radar but is seeing an unexpected surge in interest as a Netflix offering, securing spot #4 on the Top 10 movies list. Starring Kevin Makely, Bruce Dern and Mira Sorvino, Badland tells the story of detective Matthias Breecher as he takes to tracking down Confederate war criminals in the aftermath of the Civil War. It fared far worse with critics upon release, earning itself a rotten 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, but its 62% audience score indicates that at least some viewers have found it an enjoyable watch.
Netflix seems to be doing fine despite some analysts warning that subscription numbers would tank during the current pandemic, though they’ve been under consistent pressure to slow their streaming speeds to help ease the load on internet bandwidth. They’ve already slowed speeds in Europe, but no action has been taken in the U.S. as of yet.
