Rob Lowe Claims More People Watched His “Stupid Christmas Elephant Movie” Than ‘The Irishman’

By Claire Spellberg @c_spellberg
Published Jan. 8, 2020, 9:04 a.m. ET

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Holiday In The Wild

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The Irishman (2019)

Rob Lowe is going after… Martin Scorsese? At the Television Critics Association press tour on Tuesday, the actor said that his new Netflix movie Holiday in the Wild was viewed by more people than Scorsese’s The Irishman. According to The Wrap, Lowe didn’t provide any hard data to back up his claim, but he did say that his “little stupid Christmas elephant movie” was “the number one movie” on Netflix for some unspecified amount of time. If Netflix is angling for a Holiday in the Wild sequel, “little stupid Christmas elephant movie” has quite a ring to it.

According to The Wrap, during Fox’s 9-1-1: Lone Star panel, Lowe was asked about the pros and cons of streaming versus network television. “I just did a movie for Netflix that was the number one movie that they had,” said the Parks and Rec alum. “A little stupid Christmas elephant movie and it beat — take that, Martin Scorsese.”

Lowe declined to provide any viewership statistics for his “little stupid Christmas elephant movie,” also known as Holiday in the Wild. The romantic comedy stars Lowe as a rugged pilot, Derek Holliston, who helps Kate Conrad (Sex and the City‘s Kristen Davis) move on after her husband suddenly asks for a divorce. The two immediately hit it off, and before long, they rescue an orphaned baby elephant and begin nursing him back to health. Or is it Derek who nurses Kate back to health? Both, obviously. This is a Netflix holiday rom-com.

If Lowe is to be believed, a lot of people have watched Holiday in the Wild since its November 1 release. In December, the streaming giant announced that 26,404,081 people watched The Irishman in its first seven days on the service; later that month, it was named Netflix’s fifth-most popular title of 2019 (and the fourth-most popular movie release).

When reached for verification, Netflix would not confirm Lowe’s comments. However, it’s worth noting that Holiday in the Wild does not appear on any of the “most popular” lists Netflix released to round out the year. While I’m sure that plenty of people watched Holiday in the Wild, it seems unlikely that Netflix would stay silent if the film really was a smash hit.

Sorry, Rob Lowe. At the very least, maybe “Take that, Martin Scorsese” will become the new “Sorry to this man?”

UPDATED 1/8/2020 10:22 am ET: This article has been updated to include information about Netflix’s most popular of 2019 lists.

Watch Holiday in the Wild on Netflix