Red Notice on track to become Netflix’s most-watched movie despite scathing reviews

Within 10 days of release, film has logged 277.9 million hours, just 4.12 million away from ‘Bird Box’

Netflix’s Red Notice is on track to become the streaming platform’s most-watched movie of all time.

Within 10 days of its release on the platform on 12 November, the action-comedy film that features Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has already logged 277.9 million hours, just 4.12 million away from Sandra Bullock’s Bird Box.

The film has received such a turnout despite receiving scathing reviews from critics.

The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey gave the film a two-star review calling it “less a film than a collection of buzzwords.”

“Nothing about writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber’s story makes a lick of sense. Nor does it have the outright absurdity of his earlier comedies, such as Dodgeball or Central Intelligence,” she wrote.

In a two-star interview, Wendy Ide of The Guardian said Red Notice is so “concerned with knitting together a mess of double-crosses and false endings that it loses the propulsive drive and excitement of the films it imitates”.

“Red Notice has some engaging characters, but the praise stops there as the film lacks in every other category,” wrote Deadline’s Valerie Complex.

However, earlier this month, Ryan Reynolds claimed that the newly-released blockbuster broke Netflix’s record for most views on the day of release, and he was right.

Reynolds wrote on Twitter: “WOW #RedNotice is @Netflix biggest ever opening day for a film. Congrats to this whole team!”

“Can’t wait for Red Notice (Taylor’s Version),” he joked, referring to Taylor Swift’s album Red (Taylor’s Version), which was also released last week.

Red Notice focuses on an Interpol agent who attempts to hunt down and capture the world’s most wanted art thief.

With a reported budget of $200m (£145m), the film is thought to be Netflix’s most expensive ever.