Extraction: Chris Hemsworth reacts as action film nears Netflix record

Staggering number of households are watching film in lockdown

New Chris Hemsworth film Extraction is about to break a very impressive record.

The Australian actor’s action thriller, produced by Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo, arrived on Netflix on 24 April, and is on course to be watched by more than 90m households in its first month alone.

Hemsworth announced the news on his instagram page, writing: “Tyler Rake is kicking ass. Extraction is well on its way to becoming the biggest-ever film premiere on Netflix – with an estimated 90m households getting in on the action in the first fours weeks. Thanks to everyone who watched so far!”

Extraction follows Hemsworth’s mercenary, who is hired to rescue the son of an international crime lord after he is kidnapped.

Despite receiving middling reviews from critics (including a two-star from The Independent), audiences are lapping up the film, whose success has no doubt been heightened by the coronavirus lockdown.

Other Netflix titles to benefit from the strict lockdown guidelines include documentary shows Tiger King and The Last Dance, which is about basketball player Michael Jordan.

However, it’s important to note that the service picks and chooses which titles it releases stats for, with a view to highlighting its successes – and that it has recently changed how it registers views.

While the service used to count a view when a user streamed at least 70 per cent of a title, it now registers them when any account has watched at least two minutes of a film or TV show.

Netflix’s belief is that if someone watches two minutes of something, they have made an intentional choice to keep it on. Autoplay is not taken into account.