Netflix's The Electric State Has Already Been Dethroned By An Unexpected Project
Netflix obviously had the highest of hopes for Anthony and Joe Russo's feature adaptation of Simon Stålenhag's graphic novel "The Electric State." The sci-fi/action film's reported $320 million budget is the biggest in the streamer's history, and, if nothing else, its trailers promised massive visual spectacle worthy of a studio summer tentpole. With streaming sensations Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown in the lead roles, it felt like "The Electric State" was a preordained, critic-proof smash.
It's probably fair to say Netflix wasn't expecting the onslaught of viciously negative reviews that greeted "The Electric State" prior to its March 14 debut. Critics really, really hated the movie (it currently holds a 15% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes), and it's possible this negative reaction impacted Netflix subscribers' desire to give the film a whirl at home. It's either that or they simply thought the movie looked profoundly uninteresting.
In any event, "The Electric State" could only muster 25.2 million views over its first weekend on the streamer. While that was good enough to top the service's viewing chart, that's still well below the debut for Millie Bobby Brown's far less expensive "Enola Holmes 2" (32 million views), and also short of last year's sensibly budgeted actioner "Rebel Ridge" (31.2 million views). If Netflix hoped that the decidedly more positive subscriber word of mouth (it's got a 72% favorable rating on Rotten Tomatoes' Popcornmeter) might give "The Electric State" a boost, those hopes were quickly dashed this week as a new documentary and a poorly reviewed superhero movie knocked "The Electric Company" down to third place.
The Twister: Caught in the Storm has torn through The Electric State
According to FlixPatrol, "The Electric State" has been overtaken by "The Twister: Caught in the Storm." This documentary from director Alexandra Lacey ("The Fake Sheikh") revisits the harrowing Joplin, Missouri tornado of 2011, which killed 158 people and injured 1,150 others. There are only three reviews posted for it on Rotten Tomatoes, but they're all positive, praising the movie for its horrifying depiction of nature's fury and ability to find glimmers of hope for humanity by film's end.
Even more embarrassing, "The Electric State" is currently drawing fewer views than "Kraven the Hunter," the cast-aside Sony Marvel supervillain flop from 2024 starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular baddie. That movie boasts an ignominious 15% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but, for whatever reason, subscribers who skipped it in theaters are more inclined to check it out than the Russos' latest non-Marvel dreck.
To be fair, it's too soon to declare that the Russos belong in director jail when they're not making a Marvel movie. Their 2022 action extravaganza "The Gray Man" did terrific numbers for Netflix (despite mostly bad reviews), so if they come to the streamer with another straight-ahead action flick (they supposedly still have a "Gray Man" spinoff in the works with the "Deadpool" duo of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick writing the script), they'll likely get a greenlight. They just probably won't get $320 million to make it.