December is a month where Netflix releases two big genres of movies: Movies it hopes will win Oscars, and Christmas films.
Both have a good showing in this month's top 10 most watched movies list, calculated via the data the streamer releases on its top 10 website.
Four out of 10 movies in the most viewed list in December 2021 have "Christmas" in the title, with the new release A Boy Called Christmas the most popular. As for Oscar-bait movies, The Power of the Dog was a surprise hit, and Netflix subscribers watched over 100 million hours of the star-studded Don't Look Up in less than a week.
Neither of these, however, was the number 1 most viewed movie on the streaming service this month. Read on to find out what was.
The Top 10 Most Watched Netflix Movies in December 2021
10. A California Christmas: City Lights (34,490,000 hours)
Netflix's festive movie strategy seems to be "if it worked once, it'll work again," with A Christmas Prince, The Christmas Switch and The Christmas Chronicles all getting sequels. The latest to follow this trend is City Lights, the year-later follow-up to A California Christmas.
9. A Castle For Christmas (35,600,000 hours)
One time Pet Sematary director Mary Lambert makes her Christmas movie debut with this, a love story between a scandal-plagued author (Brooke Shields) and the bad-tempered owner of a Scottish castle. As with every Netflix festive movie, expect a sequel in 2022.
8. The Christmas Chronicles (37,790,000 hours)
The movie where Kurt Russell plays Santa Claus. The second movie reunited him on-screen with his real-life wife Goldie Hawn, but it was the 2018 original that made the most watched list this December.
7. Spoiled Brats (39,900,000 hours)
The only non-English language movie in this month's list, Spoiled Brats is a lighthearted French comedy about a group of spoiled siblings who are suddenly cut off by their wealthy father
6. The Power of the Dog (40,480,000 hours)
Previous big Netflix Oscar plays like Mank have gotten critical acclaim without the Netflix viewing hours that proved they were a popular success. Jane Campion's thoroughly arthouse The Power of the Dog seems to have got both—and may even win Benedict Cumberbatch an Academy Award.
5. A Boy Called Christmas (46,500,000 hours)
Netflix's story of a boy on a festive quest to find his father is its biggest Christmas-themed hit of 2021—which might have been even higher on the list if it was on the streamer globally (in key markets like the U.K., it was released separately).
4. Red Notice (68,260,000 hours)
Netflix bet big on Red Notice, an art heist movie with a $200 million budget and three massive stars in Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds. It seems to have paid off—this is the movie's second month in the top 10.
3. Back to the Outback (79,910,000 hours)
Netflix appears to be taking on animation powerhouses like Pixar and Illumination by making cartoons about one country's animal population at a time. After the China-set Over the Moon and the Cuban Vivo, we now get the Australian Back to the Outback.
2. Don't Look Up (111,030,000 hours)
Adam McKay's follow-up to Vice may not have been warmly received by critics, but the star-studded global warming satire has clearly found an audience with Netflix subscribers since it was released on Christmas Eve—because nothing says happy holidays like an impending apocalypse.
1. The Unforgivable (186,900,000 hours)
The combined powers of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett, however, were not able to defeat the new queen of Netflix, Sandra Bullock. Three years after her Bird Box became the most watched on the streamer, the actor also reached the top of her charts in a more serious film that sees her play an ex-con trying to get back into real life.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
