ANetflixmovie that reportedly cost $320 million has already sunk below a major theatrical flop on the streamer’s U.S. chart. The streaming service, which has a library of acquired titles as well, has become well known for its original movies and television shows. They began producing and distributing originals in the early 2010s with series such asHouse of CardsandOrange is the New Blackand have been behind some of the biggest small screen hits of the past 10 years, includingStranger Things,Wednesday, andBridgerton.
As the streamer grew, so did the production ofNetflix movies. In addition to increasing their quantity of original features,they began to produce big-budget titles in the late 2010s, with one of their flagship streaming blockbusters being the 2017 Will Smith fantasy dramaBright. Since then, they have produced a number of movies that cost $100 million or more, including the Jennifer Lopez sci-fi epicAtlas, the Eddie Murphy legacy sequelBeverly Hills Cop: Axel F, and the Ryan Gosling spy movieThe Gray Man, which was directed byAvengers: Endgame’s Joe and Anthony Russo.
The Electric State Is Sliding Down Netflix’s Daily U.S. Chart
It Has Only Been Available For One Week
The Electric Stateis tumbling down Netflix’s U.S. chart after just one week. The new streaming movie stars Millie Bobby Brown as Michelle Greene, a teenager who is searching for her missing brother in an alternate 1990s where humans have waged war with robots. She seeks the help of veteran John D. Keats (Chris Pratt) as well as a team of friendly robots. The reportedElectric Statebudgetof $320 million not only makes it the most expensive movie Netflix has ever produced, butone of the most expensive productions of all time.
The Electric Statewas directed by Joe and Anthony Russo and also stars Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito, and Stanley Tucci.
According toNetflix’s own daily chart of the Top 10 movies in the United States,The Electric Statehas sunk below the acquired titleKraven the Hunter, a Sony’s Spider-Man Universe movie that was one of the biggest flops of 2024, earning just $62 million against its roughly $120 million budget. After spending six days at No. 1, the movie fell to No. 3 behindKravenat No. 2 on March 20. On March 21, it fell even further, landing at No. 5 behindKravenat No. 3. See the full U.S. Top 10 movies chart for March 21 below:
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Sonic the Hegdehog 2(2022)
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What This Means For The Electric State
The Risk May Not Have Paid Off
[Kraven the Hunter] effectively ended the Sony’s Spider-Man Universe franchise.
Kraven the Hunter’s status as a flop extends far beyond the money it lost in theaters, which is a substantial amount considering the facts that its budget likely meant that it needed to gross $300 million or more to break even and that it only grossed just over one-fifth of that total. On top of its commercial woes, it was critically reviled, earning a 15% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 35 out of 100 on Metacritic. The also effectively ended the Sony’s Spider-Man Universe franchise, which has collectively grossed more than $3 billion worldwide.
Sony’s Spider-Man Universe includes theVenomtrilogy,Morbius,Madame Web, andKraven.
While the decision to conclude the franchise withKravenwas rumored to have been made shortly before its release, it was reportedly made with the movie’s projections in mind. Even if it had performed at the mediocre level of its immediate predecessorVenom: The Last Dance, which grossed $478.9 million against its roughly $120 million budget, the franchise may have continued. Instead,it grossed less than the franchise’s other notorious 2024 flop,Madame Web, which made $100.5 million against its $100 million budget.
Our Take On The Electric State’s Chart Status
The Reasons For Its Swift Decline Are Slightly Unclear
It is easy to understand what elements of the film would prevent it from being beloved, because critics, who have cumulativelygiven it a dismal 15% Rotten Tomatoes score, have highlighted many of its flaws. This includesScreenRant’s own Alex Harrison, whose 4 out of 10The Electric Statereviewsays that the movie “might actually be a little harmful to that cultural concept we call ‘The Movies.'” Read a longer excerpt below:
The Electric State resembles a fun, creative blockbuster, in the way that a knockoff resembles the genuine article. It looks like it’d be expensive, makes some clear design choices based on its sci-fi worldbuilding, and features actors you recognize doing things you might recognize them for (Stanley Tucci saying “stuffed peppers,” for example). You might think you’re seeing the real thing if you don’t look too closely…
Which is exactly what makes knockoffs so damaging to what’s being copied. Films like this put most of their energy toward convincing you it’s a real movie, that what you’re feeling is real fun. If it succeeds, and you come away thinking this is what a movie is, then the whole moviegoing enterprise is cheapened. You might not even notice that you think less of movies than you did going in, but you do. So let me be absolutely clear: movies can be, and should be, better than this.
However, audiences have given theNetflixmovie a much stronger 71% score on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, so the reason why it has dropped so low without being supplanted by a new Netflix blockbuster remains somewhat unclear. However, if it repeats this performance in other regions internationally and never climbs back up to No. 1, it seemshighly likely that the movie will be a streaming failure almost as enormous asKraven the Hunter’s theatrical failure.
