In the latest weekly Netflix NFLX +8.3% ratings, Jennifer Kaytin Robinsons teen girl comedy Do Revenge had a huge upswing in its first full week of release. The original teen targeted MA rated comedy concerns two high schoolers Camilia Mendes and Maya Hawke who pull a Strangers on a Train and agree to get righteous vengeance on their respective archenemies. Spoiler alert nobodys mother gets thrown from a train. It debuted with a somewhat soft 26.67 million hours viewed in its opening weekend. That was not a tragedy as its not like it was a do or die high profile Netflix biggie. However it jumped high in its first full week earning 42.55 million hours. It is the most watched movie on Netflix in the last week.
Yes plenty of Netflix films earn more in their first Mon Sun part versus their initial Fri-Sun debut, heck thats usually par for the course. But a 59.5% jump is solid. Its not quite as big as The Sea Beast from 33 million to 68 million or Purple Hearts 48 million to 102 million but it caught my attention. We willl see if the film nose dives after that critical first ten days. Most Netflix biggies sink like a stone after the first 1.5 weeks as the next big thing rolls in and those which do not Like Purple Hearts which earned 229 million hours in the first 28 days can be presumed to be genuine old school word-of-mouth success stories.
I mostly enjoyed Do Revenge on its own terms even if I think there is a mean streak held back by the films need to metaphorically validate its audience. No spoilers but the film brushes away some sinister plot turns so it can end on a note of women supporting women and striking down the patriarchy. Its not the first film to shy away from a grimdark finale due to market demands. Think Knight and Day teasing the notion of Tom Cruise being a delusional CIA turncoat or Central Intelligence walking back its Dwayne Johnson has been the villain all along reveals. I forgave those films. This is not a pass/fail issue for Do Revenge.
To its credit the film mostly goes its own way beyond just being a straight up homage to the late 1980s to early-2000s teen comedies. It earns its place varying quality aside right beside the likes of Heathers Jawbreakers Clueless and Mean Girls. I have long argued that Netflix was better off making new classic studio programmers that approximate the kind of character focused high concept non franchise films that Hollywood seemed to discard, and this is a crucial example. You can spend $200 million on The Gray Man and earn 254 million hours, or you can make a Sofia Carson/Nicholas Gailtzine military romance and net 90% of the viewership for 1.4% of the budget. And you might make a generational favorite in the process.
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