Jacob Elordi in “Frankenstein.”
Netflix/Ken Woroner
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein has debuted on Netflix’s Top 10 Global Movies chart with massive viewership.
Based on Mary Shelley’s classic novel, Frankenstein — which is directed and written by del Toro — began streaming on Netflix on Friday. Prior to that, the film opened in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on Oct. 17 to qualify for awards season, before expanding to theaters nationwide on Oct. 24. Even with the film’s Netflix debut, Frankenstein is still playing on the big screen.
Frankenstein stars Oscar Isaac as Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a scientist in the mid-1850s who is obsessed with bringing the dead back to life after suffering a family tragedy in his youth. Jacob Elordi plays his reanimated corpse simply called the “Creature,” while Mia Goth plays dual roles as Victor’s mother, Claire Frankenstein, as well as Elizabeth Harlander — the niece of Heinrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz) — a wealthy arms manufacturer who funds Victor’s experiments.
The film also stars Felix Kammerer as Victor’s brother, William Frankenstein, who is engaged to Elizabeth.
Netflix’s Tudum released its Global Top 10 Movies chart for the week of Nov. 2 through Nov. 9 on Tuesday and Frankenstein took the No. 1 spot only after streaming on Netflix for three days with 29.1 million views, which equates to 73.6 million hours viewed.
Frankenstein was also No. 1 in 72 countries on Netflix, including the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Netflix, however, does not release the number of views or viewing hours for individual countries carrying the streaming platform.
Jacob Elordi in “Frankenstein.”
Netflix/Ken Woroner
The Creature’s Look Was Inspired By An Artist’s Work On A Reprint Of Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’
While Guillermo del Toro said in a Zoom conversation in October that he paid tribute to Frankenstein movie icon Boris Karloff from the 1931 version with his screen adaptation of the story, the filmmaker noted he was more intent on staying true to Mary Shelly’s novel in his iteration of the classic horror tale.
As such, del Toro’s main source of inspiration for the look of the Creature was a former Marvel Comics artist who drew 50-plus pages of illustrations over a seven-year period to accompany a 1983 reprint of Shelley’s legendary book.
“The main influence visually [for my film] was Bernie Wrightson and the illustrations Bernie did in the ’70s to illustrate the book,” del Toro explained. [We honored Bernie] to the point where we got a license from his widow and we thank, quote and credit him in the film.”
Also starring Lars Mikkelsen, Christian Convery, Burn Gorman, Ralph Ineson and Charles Dance, Frankenstein is still playing in theaters and is new on Netflix.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2025/11/11/guillermo-del-toros-frankenstein-has-monster-debut-on-netflix-chart/
