Scene from “KPop Demon Hunters.”
NETFLIX
It was a big year for Netflix in 2025, as two new original film releases, including KPop Demon Hunters, broke into the platform’s global list of the top 10 most-viewed films in the history of the streamer.
While Netflix customarily does not release viewership numbers for individual countries, the platform does reveal weekly the number of times its films are viewed and their viewing hours globally.
In addition, Netflix, while not divulging viewer numbers, releases top 10 lists for dozens of countries carrying the streaming platform throughout the world.
Below is Netflix’s Global Top 10 Most Popular Movies List, which is measured by the numbers each film accumulated in the first 91 days after they each premiered on the streamer, according to Netflix Tudum.
10. ‘Damsel’ (2024)
Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown stars in Damsel, which was released on Netflix on March 8, 2024. Brown stars as Elodie in the fantasy epic, a damsel who agrees to marry a rich prince, only to learn she’s part of a ritualistic sacrifice involving a centuries-old dragon.
Damsel attracted 138 million views in its first 91 days on Netflix, which equates to 253 million hours viewed.
9. ‘The Gray Man’ (2022)
Marvel Cinematic Universe directors Anthony and Joe Russo reteamed with their Avengers screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely for the espionage action thriller starring Ryan Gosling and Captain America actor Chris Evans.
Gosling plays Sierra Six, an off-the-books CIA agent forced to go on the run when he comes into possession of an encrypted drive containing damning information about a CIA official. One of the mercenaries sent to find Sierra Six is Lloyd Hansen (Evans), a sociopathic former CIA agent.
Released on Jul 15, 2022, The Gray Man amassed 139.3 million views in its first 90 days, which equates to 299.5 million hours viewed.
8. ‘Leave The World Behind’ (2023)
Written and directed by Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot), Leave the World Behind is a psychological thriller about about the aftermath of a cyber attack that cripples the nation.
Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke play Amanda and Clay Sandford, whose stay at a rental property is interrupted by the return of house’s owners, G.H. and Ruth Scott (Mahershala Ali and Myha’la). As tensions rise between the Sandfords and Scotts, their surroundings devolve into chaos because of the cyber attack.
Released on Netflix on Nov. 22, 2023, Leave the World Behind accumulated 143.4 million views in its first 91 days on Netflix, equating to 339.3 million hours viewed.
7. ‘Back In Action’ (2025)
Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz star as Matt and Emily, former unofficial CIA operatives who, after surviving a plane crash during a dangerous mission, get married and try to live a normal life and raise a family off the grid under secret identities — that is, until the couple’s cover is blown 15 years later.
Back in Action premiered on Netflix on Jan. 17, 2025, and attracted 147.2 million views in its first 91 days of release, which equates to 279.7 million hours viewed.
Thanks to its viewing numbers, Back in Action became the first of only two Netflix original movie releases in 2025 to crack the streamer’s all-time global top 10 list.
Sandra Bullock in “Bird Box.”
Netflix
6. ‘Bird Box’ (2018)
Sandra Bullock stars as Malorie in the psychological horror thriller Bird Box, where an unknown presence destroys the world’s population.
The only way to avert death is to remain blindfolded, and as such, Malorie and her two children risk their lives by attempting to strumbling their way through terrain and waters to a sanctuary that will give them hope for the future.
Released on Netflix on Dec. 21, 2018, Bird Box compiled 157.4 million views in its first 91 days on the platform, which equates to 325.3 million viewing hours.
5. ‘The Adam Project’ (2022)
Ryan Reynolds stars in the sci-fi adventure comedy The Adam Project as Adam Reed, a fighter pilot in 2050 who steals a time-traveling jet and crashes in the year 2022. It’s there that Adam meets and teams up with the 12-year-old version of himself (Walker Scobell).
Together, both the older and younger versions of Adam travel back in time another four years so the older Adam can save his wife, Laura (Zoe Saldaña), who is trapped and in danger in 2018.
The Adam Project premiered on Netflix on March 11, 2022, and had 157.6 million views, equating to 281 million viewing hours, in its first 91 days of release.
4. ‘Don’t Look Up’ (2021)
Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence play the lead roles in the political comedy satire Don’t Look Up, which features a massive ensemble cast including Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Mark Rylance, Timothée Chalamet and Ariana Grande.
The film, which serves as a parable for climate change, stars DiCaprio and Lawrence as Randall and Kate, a pair of astromoners who embark on a global media tour to warn people about a planet-destroying comet hurtling toward Earth, but no one seems to care.
Don’t Look Up premiered on Netflix on Dec. 21, 2021, amassing 171.4 million views, equating to 408.6 million hours viewed, in its first 91 days on the platform.
3. ‘Carry-On’ (2024)
Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman and Sofia Carson star in Carry-On, an action-thriller set during a busy Christmas Eve at LAX Airport in Los Angeles.
It’s there where a TSA agent, Ethan (Egerton), finds and puts in an earbud while scanning luggage and is instructed by the unseen but nearby mercenary, the Traveler (Bateman), to allow a piece of carry-on luggage carrying a lethal nerve agent onto a packed flight. If Ethan refuses, the Traveler says he will kill Ethan’s pregnant girlfriend, Nora (Carson).
Carry-On premiered on Netflix on Dec. 13, 2024, and it went on to attract 172.1 million views, equating to 344.1 million viewing hours, in its first 91 days on the streaming service.
2. ‘Red Notice’ (2021)
Red Notice, an action comedy starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds, became Netflix’s most-streamed film globally after its release in 2021, but was bumped out of the top spot in the fall of 2025.
Johnson stars in Red Notice as FBI profiler John Hartley, whose investigation into the theft of a priceless bejeweled egg finds him engulfed in the world of a notorious thief, Nolan Booth (Reynolds), and his rival, Sarah Black (Gadot), aka “The Bishop.”
Red Notice premiered on Netflix on Nov. 12, 2021, and went on to rack up 230.9 million views, which equates to 454.2 million viewing hours, in its first 91 days on the platform.
1. ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ (2025)
Directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, the animated musical KPop Demon Hunters immediately became a global sensation upon its release on Netflix on June 20, and knocked the streamer’s former most-viewed film globally — Red Notice — out of the No. 1 slot by the beginning of September.
KPop Demon Hunters follows the superstar Kpop singing trio of Rumi, Mira and Zoey — voiced by Arden Cho, May Hong and Ji-young, respectively — as they use their powers to protect their fans and battle a boy band who are really demons in disguise.
KPop Demon Hunters drummed up 325.1 million views in its first 91 days on Netflix, which equates to 541.8 million hours viewed. Netflix is playing a KPop Demon Hunters sequel, which is scheduled for a 2029 release.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2025/11/30/here-are-netflixs-top-10-most-viewed-movies-in-streamers-history/
