As one of the most expensive movies ever made, you’d think thatNetflix’sThe Electric Statewould be a smash hit on the streaming service, despite what critics have to say about it. After all, most movie watchers like to see for themselves if a film is good or bad, right? Well, it appears as if all those negative reviews have had a big impact on The Russo Brothers' latest sci-fi adventure, because despite being #1 on Netflix, viewing numbers prove thatThe Electric Stateis not the success the streaming service hoped it would be.
Per Deadline,The Electric Statemanaged to rake in just 25.2 million views its opening weekend, and while yes,it did take top spotfor the week of March 10–16, it only did so by a small margin of 900,000.Adolescence, the four-episode limited British crime series from Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham with no star power whatsoever, amassed 24.3 million viewers to take the #2 spot for the week, which is an amazing feat when you consider the massive $320 million dollar budget it took to bringThe Electric Stateto life, and the marketing machine it had behind it.
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It gets even worse when you take a look at some other Netflix films and the numbers they pulled in their debut weekend.Back in Action, the Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz vehicle, had 46.8 million views, while a couple of other Millie Bobby Brown movies,Enola Holmes 2andDamsel, managed to pull in around 32 million and 35 million views respectively. It should be noted that all three of those movies had a combined budget equal toThe Electric State’sproduction costs.
Critics and Fans Are Divided on ‘The Electric State’
While critics may not have had many nice things to say aboutThe Electric State, fans have been a little kinder to the sci-fi film, which stars not only Brown, but Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Stanley Tucci, Giancarlo Esposito, Jason Alexander, and a slew of big names voicing its robot cast, including Anthony Mackie and Woody Harrelson. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of just 15% from critics, while its Popcornmeter is significantly higher at 73%.
MovieWeb’s own Matt Mahlernoted in his reviewthat though he went intoThe Electric Statewith an “open mind,” even his “absence of expectations were let down.” Meanwhile, RT user Rickie A called it “an incredible movie with a very timely message for the current digital age we are living in.” Further highlighting the divide, Nadine Whitney from The Curb saidThe Electric Stateisn’t so much a movie as it is “an experiment conducted on the audience to determine how much dross they’ll tolerate,” while RT user Karen T said that it’s “a great film to watch with the family on a Saturday night” that “kids will love.”
Still, despite the positive reviews from fans on Rotten Tomatoes, the numbers don’t lie, andThe Electric Statehas to be considered a big let-down for Netflix. Perhaps they’ll be a little more careful in the future, and consider taking those massive budgets and splitting them between two or three films, rather than placing all their eggs in one basket. Time will tell, but in the meantime, if you want to check outThe Electric State, it’s now available to stream.
Source:Deadline
The Electric State
