After teasing an unsolvable mystery to help brighten the gray winter skies, Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is winning the week as Netflix‘s No. 1 title on the streamer’s English film list with 20.2 million views.
In Wake Up Dead Man, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) tackles another perfectly impossible crime, this time in a small town where a hot-headed priest, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), is murdered, and the young priest he clashed with, Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), is the primary suspect. The locked-door mystery also features Glenn Close, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church. Academy Award–nominated filmmaker Rian Johnson shared that this third and darkest installment in his Benoit Blanc murder mystery series was “the hardest script I’ve ever written,” due to its personal themes that touch on faith and reason.
How does Wake Up Dead Man compare to other Netflix titles?
While Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery sits at the top of the chart, 20.2 million isn’t breaking the bank when compared to other recent Netflix chart toppers. In November, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein captivated audiences with a 29.1 million debut, while earlier this year, KPop Demon Hunters became the most-watched Netflix film ever with 236 million views and counting. When compared to some of Netflix’s top TV series debuts, Wednesday Season 2 got spooky with a 50 million view count, while Stranger Things Season 2 turned the chart upside down with 59.6 million views for its debut.
Stranger Things continues to dominate the chart
Speaking of Stranger Things, the first part of Season 5 landed in the No. 3 spot with 11.2 million views, with seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4 still rocking in the Top 10, at No. 7 (4.7 million views), No. 8 (4.7 million views), No. 5 (4.8 million views), and No. 6 (4.8 million views), respectively. This milestone marks the third week with all five seasons appearing on the list.
Why aren’t more people watching Wake Up Dead Man?
Perhaps it’s unfair to compare Wake Up Dead Man to other debuts. However, considering the star power of Rian Johnson’s latest whodunit, the franchise’s popularity, and the lack of other blockbusters debuting in the holiday window, we thought the numbers would be higher. Is the Knives Out franchise losing its edge? Are people simply too busy getting ready for the holidays to indulge in a 2 1/2 hour-long mystery? Did Netflix fail to promote the movie accordingly? Much like Benoit Blanc in the film, we have questions.
For what it’s worth, I watched Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery on Sunday evening and had a lot of fun with it. I liked it more than Glass Onion, and the film is worth watching for Josh O’Connor’s performance alone. Have you watched Wake Up Dead Man yet? Do you plan to? Let us know in the comments section below.
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