A Netflix movie that reportedly cost $320 million has already sunk below a major theatrical flop on the streamer's U.S. chart. The streaming service, which has a library of acquired titles as well, has become well known for its original movies and television shows. They began producing and distributing originals in the early 2010s with series such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black and have been behind some of the biggest small screen hits of the past 10 years, including Stranger Things, Wednesday, and Bridgerton.

As the streamer grew, so did the production of Netflix movies. In addition to increasing their quantity of original features, they began to produce big-budget titles in the late 2010s, with one of their flagship streaming blockbusters being the 2017 Will Smith fantasy drama Bright. Since then, they have produced a number of movies that cost $100 million or more, including the Jennifer Lopez sci-fi epic Atlas, the Eddie Murphy legacy sequel Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, and the Ryan Gosling spy movie The Gray Man, which was directed by Avengers: Endgame's Joe and Anthony Russo.

The Electric State Is Sliding Down Netflix's Daily U.S. Chart

It Has Only Been Available For One Week

The Electric State is tumbling down Netflix's U.S. chart after just one week. The new streaming movie stars Millie Bobby Brown as Michelle Greene, a teenager who is searching for her missing brother in an alternate 1990s where humans have waged war with robots. She seeks the help of veteran John D. Keats (Chris Pratt) as well as a team of friendly robots. The reported Electric State budget of $320 million not only makes it the most expensive movie Netflix has ever produced, but one of the most expensive productions of all time.

The Electric State was directed by Joe and Anthony Russo and also stars Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito, and Stanley Tucci.

According to Netflix's own daily chart of the Top 10 movies in the United States, The Electric State has sunk below the acquired title Kraven the Hunter, a Sony's Spider-Man Universe movie that was one of the biggest flops of 2024, earning just $62 million against its roughly $120 million budget. After spending six days at No. 1, the movie fell to No. 3 behind Kraven at No. 2 on March 20. On March 21, it fell even further, landing at No. 5 behind Kraven at No. 3. See the full U.S. Top 10 movies chart for March 21 below:

What This Means For The Electric State

The Risk May Not Have Paid Off

In theaters, The Electric State would most likely have to earn $800 million or more just to turn a profit. Because the movie is a Netflix release, it doesn't have to worry about theaters keeping half of ticket sales, but it would most likely still need to be worth roughly $480 million in subscriber revenue in order to justify the financial risk. Considering the fact that, just one week in, it cannot compete with the huge 2024 flop Kraven the Hunter, it seems unlikely that it will be able to sustain the amount of momentum needed to hit that milestone.

[Kraven the Hunter] effectively ended the Sony's Spider-Man Universe franchise.

Kraven the Hunter's status as a flop extends far beyond the money it lost in theaters, which is a substantial amount considering the facts that its budget likely meant that it needed to gross $300 million or more in order to break even and that it only grossed just over one-fifth of that total. On top of its commercial woes, it was critically reviled, earning a 15% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 35 out of 100 on Metacritic. The also effectively ended the Sony's Spider-Man Universe franchise, which has collectively grossed more than $3 billion worldwide.

Sony's Spider-Man Universe includes the Venom trilogy, Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven.

While the decision to conclude the franchise with Kraven was rumored to have been made shortly before its release, it was reportedly made with the movie's projections in mind. Even if it had performed at the mediocre level of its immediate predecessor Venom: The Last Dance, which grossed $478.9 million against its roughly $120 million budget, the franchise may have continued. Instead, it grossed less than the franchise's other notorious 2024 flop, Madame Web, which made $100.5 million against its $100 million budget.

Our Take On The Electric State's Chart Status

The Reasons For Its Swift Decline Are Slightly Unclear

It is easy to understand what elements of the film would prevent it from being beloved, because critics, who have cumulatively given it a dismal 15% Rotten Tomatoes score, have highlighted many of its flaws. This includes ScreenRant's own Alex Harrison, whose 4 out of 10 The Electric State review says that the movie "might actually be a little harmful to that cultural concept we call 'The Movies.'" Read a longer excerpt below:

The Electric State resembles a fun, creative blockbuster, in the way that a knockoff resembles the genuine article. It looks like it'd be expensive, makes some clear design choices based on its sci-fi worldbuilding, and features actors you recognize doing things you might recognize them for (Stanley Tucci saying "stuffed peppers," for example). You might think you're seeing the real thing if you don't look too closely...

Which is exactly what makes knockoffs so damaging to what's being copied. Films like this put most of their energy toward convincing you it's a real movie, that what you're feeling is real fun. If it succeeds, and you come away thinking this is what a movie is, then the whole moviegoing enterprise is cheapened. You might not even notice that you think less of movies than you did going in, but you do. So let me be absolutely clear: movies can be, and should be, better than this.

However, audiences have given the Netflix movie a much stronger 71% score on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, so the reason why it has dropped so low without being supplanted by a new Netflix blockbuster remains somewhat unclear. However, if it repeats this performance in other regions internationally and never climbs back up to No. 1, it seems highly likely that the movie will be a streaming failure almost as enormous as Kraven the Hunter's theatrical failure.

Source: Netflix