Adam Sandler’s debut film for Netflix, the western-themed comedy The Ridiculous 6, has debuted to the highest-ever opening viewing figures in the streaming service’s history.
Doubts were expressed over Netflix’s four-film deal with the comic in July after Sandler’s latest cinema release, the sci-fi comedy Pixels, bombed at the box office. But the service’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos revealed the first fruits of the deal had proven sweet on Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
“The Ridiculous 6, by way of example, in the first 30 days on Netflix it’s been the most-watched movie in the history of Netflix,” he told reporters. “It’s also enjoyed a spot at No 1 in every territory we operate in, and in many of them it’s still No 1.”
Success for The Ridiculous 6 comes despite the film being panned by critics – as Sandler’s movies routinely are, as well as Netflix users. Last month it was reported that the comedy had been removed from Netflix UK’s main carousel in favour of the equally poorly received Cameron Crowe comedy Aloha after just three days of availability, amid suggestions the site was trying to bury the $60m film. But Sarandos’s comments suggest The Ridiculous 6 has in fact been an unqualified success.
The western came under fire in May for alleged racist treatment of Native American actors. Sandler has called the furore a “misunderstanding”.
Netflix expanded to 130 new countries, including Russia, India, Nigeria, South Korea, Vietnam, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Turkey and Indonesia, this week in what the country has described as a “global” launch. Most of the new territories will receive programming in English, though the firm has also added film and television content in Arabic, Korean, simplified and traditional Chinese to the 17 languages it already offers.
