More People Watched Netflix Original Movies This Year Than Voted In The 2016 Election

Netflix has had undeniable success with their TV shows — for the first year ever, the platform beat out HBO with 112 Emmy nominations — but their Original films have failed to capture attention in the same way. The platform’s teen romances, including To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and The Kissing Booth, but the platform has yet to win an Oscar or really generate a big-budget hit. Should Netflix be worried, and more specifically, are they? According to a new report from The Hollywood Reporter, it’s a mixed bag. Netflix has a ridiculous amount of people watching their movies, but the platform is still looking to revamp their Original film content. That means less low-budget indies and more tentpole flicks like Bright will be hitting your screen in the coming months.

Netflix is notoriously shady about their viewership numbers, but the streamer told The Hollywood Reporter that their 2018 film releases have been wildly popular. Apparently these films have been viewed 850 million (850! Million!) times by more than 120 million accounts around the world. This means two things: one, that people are likely watching the same movie multiple times, and two, that users have likely watched a wide variety of Netflix Original films over the course of the year. If you watch Set It Up, it seems logical that you would also check out Ibiza and To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. On the same note, if you loved The Kissing Booth the first time around, you’re probably going to watch it again to show your friends how awesome it was. These stats are a huge feather in Netflix’s cap because it proves that their films can compete with (and maybe even beat out) traditionally-distributed flicks in terms of viewership.

But despite these crazy numbers, Netflix is still trying to rebrand their film image. The platform is reportedly eschewing small indies — the films that started their Original movie library — in favor of big-budget hits. In particular, Netflix is looking for “Marvel superhero pics and Lord of the Rings-style fantasy fare or prestige projects they can campaign for awards,” writes THR. Films like the upcoming Michael Bay-Ryan Reynolds collaboration Six Underground and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman are good examples of what Netflix is interested in moving forward. Of course, the platform will still debut new romantic comedies, which they say are “massively watched,” but the goal is to make tentpoles like Six Underground the new normal.

Netflix’s Fall 2018 movie schedule is a nice mix of big-budget films (Outlaw King), Oscars-worthy fare (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Roma), and teen love stories (Sierra Burgess Is a Loser), so it will be interesting to see if these films can push Netflix above the 1 billion views mark. As of now, all signs point to yes.