Netflix says a record-breaking 45 million accounts watched 'Bird Box' in its first week, but we don't know how many finished the movie

bird box

Netflix said more than 45 million accounts watched "Bird Box" in the movie's first week.
That's a record for a Netflix movie, according to the streamer.
Netflix did not specify how many viewers actually finished the movie, though.

Over 45 million accounts have watched Netflix's new original thriller, "Bird Box," in the best first week for a Netflix movie, the streaming giant said on Friday.

"Took off my blindfold this morning to discover that 45,037,125 Netflix accounts have already watched Bird Box — best first 7 days ever for a Netflix film!" Netflix tweeted.

Netflix had over 137 million subscribers as of October, so around 33% of Netflix accounts viewed "Bird Box."

The movie stars Sandra Bullock as a mother who's trying to protect her children after a supernatural force that kills you if you see it wipes out most of humanity.

Netflix did not specify how many users actually finished the entire movie, though. And Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for clarification from Business Insider.

Netflix has made bold statements about its original movies before. Its content chief, Ted Sarandos, recently said that "The Christmas Chronicles" was the biggest movie of its star Kurt Russell's career, with 20 million views on the streaming service. (He did not specify how many of those were repeat viewings.)

"Bird Box" has generated buzz (and memes) online since it debuted on Netflix last Friday, December 21, though critics weren't blown away by it. The movie has a 65% critic score on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Stephen King praised the movie last week, saying he was "absolutely riveted" by it.

"Don't believe the lukewarm reviews, which may in part have been caused by reviewers' ambivalence to the streaming platform, as opposed to theatrical releases," he said, adding, "One might say movie reviewers suffer from the dread NP syndrome: Netflix Prejudice."

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