A Polish Murder Mystery Is Quickly Making Its Way Up Netflix's Top Charts

It's been a while since we've seen a true prestige film hit the top of the Netflix charts. Or, at least, it seems that way. Last week we saw Jennifer Lopez sci-fi outing "Atlas" have a strong showing on Netflix, a development made all the more upsetting by the simultaneous success of Antonio Banderas' B-movie "Security," which similarly blew up on the streamer seven years after its initial release. Prior to that, everyone's favorite Ogre, "Shrek," dominated the Netflix charts, while Scott Adkins DTV actioner "One Shot" also managed to find its own success amid the Shrek-fever of May. All of this seemed a tad desultory and, dare I say, disheartening. Now, though, it may be Poland to the rescue, with murder mystery "Colors of Evil: Red" seeing global success on the service.

The crime thriller is adapted from Małgorzata Oliwia Sobczak's book "Czerwień" and directed by Adrian Panek. It follows prosecutor Leopold Bilski (Jakub Gierszał) as he tries to solve the case of a murdered girl, Monika Bogucka (Zofia Jastrzębska), whose body washes up on the beaches of Tricity. Bilski is convinced the murder is tied to a case from two decades prior, and sets out on a quest to connect the two murders. Unfortunately, he's hampered in his attempts to reopen the old case, and ultimately teams up with Monika's mother, Helena (Maja Ostaszewska), to get to the bottom of the grim murders.

Sounds alright, doesn't it? At least, it sounds a lot better than what Netflix has been serving up lately, and it seems Netflixers the world over feel similarly.

"Colors of Evil: Red" hit Netflix on May 29, 2024, and, much like a serial killer with a penchant for media attention, immediately made its presence known. According to streaming viewership tracker FlixPatrol, the film is charting in 92 countries and is currently number one on the most-watched movies chart in 45 of them. Not only did it debut at number one in its native Poland, and remain in the top spot since its arrival, it also managed to pull off that same feat in Uruguay, hitting the top of charts in the South American country the day after it arrived on the service and remaining there ever since. Uruguay doesn't exactly have a large Polish diaspora, so they must just be big fans of central European crime thrillers.

Over in the U.S., the film didn't have quite the same impact, which isn't too surprising considering its international origin. That said, "Colors of Evil" still managed an impressive debut stateside, arriving at number nine on the charts the day after its release and climbing steadily ever since. Between May 30 and 31, the movie made a significant jump from number nine to number three, taking the number two spot on June 1 and remaining there until June 4, at which point it fell back to the third spot. At the time of writing, it has "300: Rise of an Empire" and "Godzilla Minus One" (which only barely got added) to beat in order to claim the top spot in the U.S.. But whether it manages to triumph or not, this is an undeniably strong debut for the movie.

As "Colors of Evil" triumphs on Netflix, "Atlas" has fallen from number one to the seventh spot on the most-watched movies charts. But being dethroned by "Godzilla Minus One" is nothing to be ashamed of, especially when, as Variety reports, "Atlas" managed to rack up an unbelievable 1.3 billion minutes of watch time last week (the second closest was Brooke Shields rom-com "Mother of the Bride" with 223 million minutes).

Whether "Colors of Evil" can manage a similar showing remains unclear, though it seems unlikely given the unbelievable amount of time Netflixers sunk into "Atlas." According to Rotten Tomatoes, the J-Lo sci-fi flick "buckles under the weight of a script whose intelligence is merely artificial," and could only muster a 19% critic score. "Colors of Evil," however, doesn't currently have an RT score to go by, but looks like an all-round more tasteful endeavor than "Atlas." Unfortunately, as the Michael Fassbender flop "The Snowman" proved last year, Netflixers will watch anything, or more specifically, seem especially primed to devour films like "Atlas" (which don't require all that much attention to follow).

For now, "Colors of Evil" director Adrian Panek can simply revel in his Netflix triumph, and will no doubt be in talks to return for more gritty crime fare in the near future.