George Clooney has been keeping a relatively low profile over the last few years, having not starred in a movie for close to half a decade before The Midnight Sky was released on Netflix three weeks ago. The existential sci-fi is comfortably the biggest project he’s ever directed with a budget of $100 million, but the reception has been lukewarm to say the least.
The literary adaptation currently holds a 52% score on Rotten Tomatoes, coming in for plenty of praise for the visuals and the leading man’s performance, but the slow pace of the narrative and struggles to strike a consistent tone have left others feeling cold. It continues a directorial career that’s been marked by inconsistency, but The Midnight Sky is proving to be a massive hit for the streaming service.
The apocalyptic tale has been rooted at the higher end of the Top 10 most-watched list ever since it arrived, and has managed to nab the #1 spot in 77 countries, one less than Enola Holmes, which went on to become the platform’s sixth most popular original title ever. The Midnight Sky is now projected to draw in 72 million viewers in its first four weeks, which would be good enough to place it above The Kissing Booth 2 to take ninth place on the all-time chart.
As well as reaffirming George Clooney‘s drawing power, the success of The Midnight Sky continues to show that Netflix subscribers pay little heed to the critical consensus when it comes to choosing their content, as well as vindicating the company’s decision to spend top dollar in order to secure some of the biggest names in the industry and hand them complete creative freedom to deliver the movie they’ve imagined without any compromise.
Published: Jan 1, 2021 10:17 am