'Don't Look Up' sets Netflix record for biggest week

MANILA, Philippines — The star-studded apocalyptic drama-comedy film "Don't Look Up" recently recorded the biggest week of views in Netflix history, with more than 152 million hours streamed as of Jan. 2, 2022 —nearly 40 million hours more than the next nine most popular shows.

Released on Dec. 24, 2021, the movie starring Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep, is also already the No. 3 most popular film on the streaming service of all time.

Poster for "Don't Look Up," which just smashed Netflix records for biggest viewing week ever.

Written and directed by Adam McKay, "Don't Look Up" follows the story of two university astronomers, Michigan State doctoral candidate Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) and astronomy Professor Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), who discover that a comet is speeding toward Earth with enough intensity to destroy the planet and diminish humans entirely.

The two, totally rattled by their discovery, inform the United States president (Meryl Streep) about the upcoming comet collision. But the president and her son (Jonah Hill) are more concerned about mass opinion on their performance, as well as the upcoming midterm elections.

The scientists in the climate change satire film also want to simply share the data and the evidence, but they are repeatedly pressured to become storytellers, celebrities and counselors. 

Director McKay tweeted that he was “straight-up flabbergasted” by the current viewing numbers the film has been receiving.

Currently, "Don't Look Up" has 263.32 million hours, which makes it a third placer in the list Netflix's most watched movies. It follows "Red Notice" (2021) with 364.02 million hours and "Bird Box" (2018) with 282.02 million hours.