Mank slips out of Netflix’s top 10 most-watched list within a day of release

Film is being trounced in most-watched list by thrillers starring Bruce Willis, Jennifer Garner and Ryan Phillippe

David Fincher’s Mank slipped out of Netflix’s top 10 most viewed films and television shows within a day of its release.

Mank, starring Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried, revolves around the Hollywood studio system in the 1930’s, and specifically the making of Citizen Kane. It has received mostly strong reviews, with The Independent calling it “a 16 oz steak of a film with pudding after”.

While Netflix is famously cagey about its streaming numbers, this year it introduced a daily top 10 feature on its site, allowing subscribers to see which films and TV shows are being watched the most each day. It’s subsequently one of the few ways to know what content is most popular on the service – even if we still don’t know how many people are actually watching.

Released worldwide on Friday (4 December), Mank has made just one appearance on Netflix’s top 10 list in the US, ranking at number 10 on Saturday, the first day it could chart. Currently sitting atop the list are the 2016 Bruce Willis action film Marauders and the 2018 Jennifer Garner vigilante thriller Peppermint. According to IndieWire, Mank has not made another appearance in the list since.

In the UK, Mank is (as of 8 December) completely absent from the site’s top 10 most-viewed content. The Crown sits comfortably at number one, followed by Big Mouth at two, the Kurt Russell sequel The Christmas Chronicles 2 at three, and The Queen’s Gambit at five.

Intriguingly, a Ryan Phillippe action vehicle titled The 2nd currently ranks at number four.

While the top 10 list can’t be used as definitive proof that Mank isn’t being watched by strong numbers, Netflix does tend to publicise when its content proves incredibly successful. In July, Netflix boasted that the Charlize Theron action film The Old Guard had been streamed by 72m households in four weeks.

In November, the service claimed that the limited series The Queen’s Gambit, starring Anya Taylor-Joy as a chess prodigy, had been streamed by 62m households in just 28 days.

Gary Oldman in Mank (NETFLIX)

Mank, which has been in development since 1997, was picked up by Netflix after being turned down by traditional studios due to Fincher’s insistence that it was made in black-and-white.

It reportedly had a budget of around $30m (£22m), and has so far grossed $99,000 (£73,000) playing at selected cinemas that are currently open in the US.