How Many People Watched Bright In The First Three Days?

Despite exceptionally brutal reviews, it sounds like Bright has been a huge success for Netflix.

According to Variety, an estimated 11 million viewers streamed the fantasy thriller starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton during the first three days it was available in the U.S. The numbers come from Nielsen, the company that measures TV viewership, because Netflix refuses to reveal official viewership totals. Although Netflix has disputed Nielsen's estimates in the past, you get the feeling they'd be cool with these ratings.

Directed by Suicide Squad's David Ayer, Bright is set in an alternate present-day Los Angeles in which fictional races like orcs, elves, and fairies co-exist with humans. Smith plays a cop who reluctantly partners with LAPD's first orc officer (Edgerton).

To put the viewership estimates in perspective, Bright brought in less than the 15.8 million who watched the Stranger Things 2 premiere during its first three days in October, but a lot more than the nearly 3 million views for the season 2 premiere of The Crown. Just over 12 million people watched the season 7 premiere of Game of Thrones during its first airing.

Although nobody has to buy a movie ticket to see Bright, the numbers put it right up with the biggest films in theaters now. Star Wars: The Last Jedi sold about 11 million tickets in North America this past weekend and Jumani: Welcome to the Jungle sold about 6 million. 

Of course, it's not exactly clear if all 11 million of those Bright viewers actually watched the entire movie. Considering that the monthly cost of a Netflix subscription is less than the price of two movie theater tickets, viewers don't have much to lose by clicking to stream even if they just want to see if the movie is really as bad as critics say it is.

Either way, Netflix has already ordered a sequel, and this response only ensures it'll happen.