Summary
- The horror movie
Barbarian
finds success on Netflix. - The title landed on Netflix’s global top 10 English-language movie chart with 4.6 million viewers in a week.
- The success of
Barbarian
on Netflix may boost upcoming projects from stars Bill Skarsgård and Georgina Campbell.
Barbarian has become a global hit on Netflix two years after its original release. The twisty 2022 horror thriller, which stars Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, and Justin Long, was directed by The Whitest Kids U’Know‘s Zach Cregger, who was previously known more or less exclusively as a comedy filmmaker. In addition to being a critical success, earning a Certified Fresh 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie was a theatrical hit, grossing $45.4 million against a budget of roughly $4.5 million.
Netflix has now calculated their global Top 10 chart for the most-watched English-language movies during the week of April 29 through May 5. Barbarian landed on the chart at No. 10 thanks to 4.6 million viewers amassing a total of 7.9 million viewing hours between them. Despite being an older release, the Justin Long horror movie has proven able to compete on the same playing field as other, more current, streaming hits including Unfrosted, Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, and Anyone But You, which are also on the Top 10 chart.
Barbarian’s Netflix Success Could Have A Ripple Effect For Its Stars
Bill Skarsgård And Georgina Campbell Both Have Big Upcoming Genre Projects
The 2022 movie has proven to be both a theatrical and streaming success, but that hasn’t necessarily translated to follow-up hits for the Barbarian cast. Georgina Campbell followed her role in the movie with an appearance in Netflix’s Spain-set 2023 horror spinoff Bird Box Barcelona, which had a lukewarm reception from critics and a downright hostile one from audiences. While Skarsgård did play a supporting character in the hit John Wick: Chapter 4, his new dystopian action movie Boy Kills World has had a disappointing box office run, earning just $2.7 million worldwide so far after opening at No. 11.
Bird Box Barcelona
has a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 53% and an audience score of 39%.
Because not every main character lives through the Barbarian ending, returning in a possible sequel is out of the question for some of the movie’s stars. However, its newfound resurgence in popularity on Netflix could be well-timed to the boost the releases of upcoming blockbuster genre movies in which they are set to appear. First up this summer is the supernatural thriller The Watchers, a movie written and directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan in which Campbell stars opposite Dakota Fanning and Mandy‘s Olwen Fouéré.
Skarsgård is also set to lead a major horror-tinged title this summer with the upcoming release of the remake of The Crow. The movie, which also stars Danny Huston and FKA Twigs, has drawn online controversy due to the redesign of lead character Eric Draven and the original director’s concerns about the legacy of original The Crow star Brandon Lee. However, Barbarian becoming a Netflix hit so close to the beginning of the summer movie season could help both movies overcome any obstacles and become newfound hits for the stars.
Source: Netflix
Barbarian
In Barabarian, Tess (Georgina Campbell) travels to Detroit for a job interview, booking an Airbnb to stay at. When she discovers the rental is currently occupied by a man named Keith (Bill Skarsgard), who also supposedly booked the property, Tess agrees to stay the night while they sort things out. However, her reservations for Keith are the least of her worries – as she soon discovers the home is not what it seems.
- Director
- Zach Cregger
- Release Date
- September 9, 2022
- Studio(s)
- 20th Century , Disney
- Distributor(s)
- 20th Century , Disney
- Writers
- Zach Cregger
- Cast
- Bill Skarsgard , Georgina Campbell , Justin Long , Richard Brake , Kurt Braunohler , Matthew Patrick Davis
- Runtime
- 102 minutes
- Budget
- $4–4.5 million
