Gal Gadot and Boss Baby are actually huge for Netflix

polygon.com:

In the wake of the WGA union contract negotiation last fall, which demanded greater transparency over what was getting watched on streaming services, the typically secretive Netflix opted to start sharing viewership numbers on a regular basis. “This has been on a continuum for several years,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos told Variety last December, suggesting the streamer’s first ever “What We Watched” engagement report was just its way of playing catch up and not at all about being held accountable by the industry. Sure, Jan, etc.

The initial report revealed just how essential licensed TV and movies remained to a platform that was proudly spending oodles on original content. The story to be found in the second report issued on Thursday, which breaks down viewership and streaming hours in both film and television categories from July through December 2023, is more about the surprises: things one might assume were blockbuster hits for the streamer were more like modest wins, while less obvious projects apparently scored big. Also, Gal Gadot is a Netflix star.

Did you see Heart of Stone when it dropped last August? Slick action movie starring Gadot as super spy [checks] Rachel Stone? Not a movie that comes up a lot in conversation. (For what it’s worth, we dug it well enough thanks to some fairly savvy stunts.) But despite its lack of cultural footprint, the latest from the studio and star that brought you Red Notice was a pretty notable hit for Netflix; according to the engagement report, 109.6 million people viewed the movie in the first five months on the platform. That outranks movies like Leo, the down-the-middle kid’s flick starring Adam Sandler, David Fincher’s The Killer, and even the holiday-timed platform release of Super Mario. Oh, and 27 million people also caught up with Red Notice — the Heart of Stone effect is real!!

There was an even bigger winner for Netflix as far as movie output is concerned: the apocalyptic chamber drama Leave the World Behind, starring