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Netflix may have revealed that its July movies attracted some of the biggest viewing figures ever for the streaming service, but all of them were beaten in the streamer's charts by a 2012 animated movie.
July saw the release of major Netflix movies like The Old Guard, Fatal Affair, and Desperados, all of which made the month's top 10.
The Kissing Booth 2, meanwhile, has been number one in the movie charts since it was released but missed out on the overall top 10 due to the lengthy runs in the top 10 some other films had.
The top 10 chart Netflix released for its TV shows was almost entirely Netflix Originals, but the movies chart is more varied, with less than half of the films originally streaming on the service.
Despicable Me, The Lorax, and How Do You Know are among the old films that got a new lease of life after they came to the streamer this month.
The top 10 most-watched movies on Netflix in July
10. Patriots Day (2016)
Days on chart: 8
Highest Position: 1
Patriots Day sees Mark Wahlberg play a police officer trying to find out what happened during the 2013 Boston Marathon, in which two bombs exploded. The movie is directed by Peter Berg, whose Spenser Confidential (which also stars Wahlberg) is the third most-watched Netflix movie of all time, with 85 million views according to the streaming site.
9. The Town (2010)
Days on chart: 11
Highest Position: 2
Ben Affleck may be better known these days for his bad back tattoo, his even badder Batman as his bad habit of canoodling with girlfriend Ana de Armas in public without a mask, but in the 2010s he revealed he had the potential to be a good director. 2012's Argo may have won the Oscar, but heist drama The Town has proven to be the most popular of his movies.
8. Only (2019)
Days on chart: 10
Highest Position: 2
Certain films became popular during the Covid-19 era because they focused on pandemics and/or quarantine. Though Only features a kind of ash that kills only women rather than a virus, many have found themselves able to empathize with the plight of Freda Pinto in this movie, whose time in lockdown becomes as nightmarish as the world outside her window.
7. Despicable Me (2010)
Days on chart: 21
Highest Position: 5
Those Minions refuse to go away. Minions: The Rise of Gru may have been delayed until June 2021, but millions flocked to Netflix to keep their kids occupied and to watch the first film that introduced the 'adorable' yellow nonsense-spouters. Though it never got higher than number five in the Netflix chart, its three-week run (which is still ongoing) shows it has a dedicated audience.
6. 365 Dni (2020)
Days on chart: 24
Highest Position: 2
365 Dni was the film that maybe proved that many American households do not know how to access actual porn. The Polish movie, which got a 0 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, raised eyebrows and temperatures across the globe for its explicit sex scenes, which gave the movie the longest run in the Netflix top 10 of any movie in July...though much of that may have been people watching certain scenes over and over again.
5. Fatal Affair (2020)
Days on chart: 13
Highest Position: 1
While millions went to 365 Dni for sex scenes, millions more came to Fatal Affair for a story of sexual obsession which, oddly enough, did not feature much in the way of sex. What it did feature, however, was the third onscreen pairing of Nia Long and Omar Epps. They played lovers in their first two movies together, but for this spin on Fatal Attraction, they turned that on its head by having Epps play a man obsessed with an old friend portrayed by Long.
4. How Do You Know (2010)
Days on chart: 20
Highest Position: 3
How Do You Know, directed by James L Brooks, the rom-com genius creator of movies like Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News and As Good As It Gets, was a box office bomb in 2010. However, the Reese Witherspoon and Owen Wilson film, which also features the last ever film role for Jack Nicholson, has proven perfect for streaming.
3. Desperados (2020)
Days on chart: 16
Highest Position: 1
Desperados was another critical flop for Netflix, currently sitting at 15 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it seemed to offer viewers the perfect combination of exotic sights and low-stakes romantic shenanigans to make it a summer hit—plus the cast offered a mini-reunion for the cast of New Girl.
2. The Old Guard (2020)
Days on chart: 20
Highest Position: 1
The biggest of Netflix's Original movies released in July, The Old Guard was also the streamer's best, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 81 percent and many calls for a sequel featuring Charlize Theron as an immortal warrior.
1. The Lorax (2012)
Days on chart: 23
Highest Position: 1
Not even a kick-ass Charlize Theron, however, could beat Danny DeVito as a squat environmentally-conscious creature. The 2012 adaptation of Dr. Seuss's own favorite of his books The Lorax has had an unbroken run on the Netflix top 10 since July 6, and over three weeks later is still at number five—one position above The Old Guard.
