It’s not quite a “great reset,” but a confluence of factors has brought about a significant moment of change for the world’s biggest streaming service. Netflix is facing more adept streaming rivals than ever, for example, while subscribers have had enough of price increases. Meanwhile, a password-sharing crackdown is coming, and junk titles (like crappy reality shows) proliferate more than ever on the platform. Netflix movies have also been disappearing from the streamer over the last few years — in a big way.
Specifically, Netflix has pared down its movie library considerably in recent years. And the degree to which it’s done so might surprise you. The website What’s On Netflix has published an analysis of Netflix movies in the US — which found, among other things, that back in May 2015 there were 4,751 movies (again, in the US) available to stream. Fast forward to today, and that number is down almost 40 percent. To only a little more than 3,000 films, with 1,735 having disappeared.
Netflix’s shrinking film library
That might sound like a big drop, but you also have to keep something else in mind.
Over the same period, Netflix has ramped up its own original movie production, delivering for subscribers movies like Red Notice, The Adam Project, and the current #1 English-language Netflix film globally, 365 Days: This Day. In other words, the paring-down of Netflix movies from the streamer’s available inventory actually looks even more pronounced if you back out the originals that Netflix has added to the pile over that same period.
More importantly, though, what’s the implication here? To some people, this could look like you’re paying more for less over time. If, that is, you’re a huge movie fan — which, remember, is really the thing that Netflix was built around in the early days (heck, it’s right there in the name of the product itself, in the second syllable).
What are the Top 10 Netflix movies?
Over time, of course, the balance has also gradually shifted, such that Netflix now gets far more attention and scrutiny from the press and from global users for its TV shows, as opposed to its movies. Just look at the latest Netflix global Top 10 lists for proof.
Let’s compare the Top 10 English-language Netflix shows with the Top 10 English-language Netflix movies globally for the 7-day period that ended May 1. The latter garnered a little over 158 million hours of viewing time globally.
Netflix TV shows, though? Almost 270 million hours of viewing time.
Speaking of Netflix movies, here’s a look at the Top 10 English-language films globally on the streamer over that recent 7-day span, according to Netflix’s own data:
- 365 Days: This Day — 77.9 million hours viewed
- Silverton Siege — 20.2 million hours viewed
- The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes — 15.3 million hours viewed
- 365 Days — 10 million hours viewed
- The Vault — 6.6 million hours viewed
- How It Ends — 6.6 million hours viewed
- The In-Between — 6 million hours viewed
- The Adam Project — 5.6 million hours viewed
- Sonic the Hedgehog — 4.9 million hours viewed
- Shrek — 4.5 million hours viewed
More Netflix coverage: For more Netflix news, check out our coverage of the latest new Netflix movies and series to watch.
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