Film

The Irishman tops 26m streams in first week, says Netflix

Martin Scorsese’s mob movie secured 13m views in its first five days in the US alone

The Irishman: Jesse Plemons, Ray Romano, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Martin Scorsese’s new mob movie

Andrew Pulver
Wed Dec 11 2019 - 15:38

Netflix has announced that Martin Scorsese's new mob movie, The Irishman, has been watched by more than 26 million account holders in its first seven days on the streaming service.

Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, announced the figures at a conference in New York. According to Sarandos, just over 26.4 million accounts worldwide watched the film for at least 70 per cent of its running time, which Netflix says its viewership totals are based on. This follows a report from the ratings agency Nielsen on Friday that said the film secured 13.2 million views in its first five days of streaming in the United States alone, over the Thanksgiving holiday.

By comparison, Netflix has previously announced that the Sandra Bullock thriller Bird Box recorded 45 million views over its first seven days, and the Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston comedy Murder Mystery was streamed 30.9 million times in its first three-day weekend.

The Irishman, which stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, was released on Netflix on November 27th, after cinema releases around the world, including the US on November 1st, Ireland and Britain on November 8th, and Australia on November 13th. In line with its usual practice, Netflix has not released box-office results.

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The film was boycotted by a number of major cinema chains because of Netflix’s refusal to adhere to the traditional 90-day window of exclusivity before releasing it on home-entertainment formats. Partly to compensate for its limited presence in cinemas, Netflix booked The Irishman to play for a month at New York’s celebrated Belasco theatre, on Broadway.

Despite being a vocal enthusiast for the cinemagoing experience, Scorsese has defended his decision to accept Netflix's financial backing, saying: "Having the backing of a company that says that you will have no interference, you can make the picture as you want – the trade-off being: it streams, with theatrical distribution prior to that. I figure that's a chance we take on this particular project." – Guardian

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