The ‘GTA VI’ Preview Was the Most-Watched Movie on Netflix

The #1 movie on Netflix is … Grand Theft Auto VI?!?

No, really. In a library with hundreds of titles — including the just-debuted and heavily-promoted The Whisper Man starring Adam Scott and Robert De Niro — the thing that was the most-watched on streaming last week was the company’s exclusive 27-minute preview of GTA 6.

Calling it a “first-of-its kind premiere,” Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look reached the top spot on Netflix’s weekly top ten list of English-language movies. The half-hour special gave customers, per Netflix, “the most in-depth reveal yet of the much-anticipated continuation of the groundbreaking Grand Theft Auto series, following Grand Theft Auto V, which holds the record for biggest entertainment launch of all time.”

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On Netflix’s top 10 charts page, Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look is listed as the #1 title for the week of August 24 to August 30, with 31.1 million views. The aforementioned The Whisper Man with De Niro and Adam Scott came in second place, with 23.2 million views.

As always, Netflix calculates “views” on something as “the total hours viewed divided by the total runtime.” And remember: Grand Theft Auto VI was only 27 minutes long, so in terms of “total hours viewed” it was already at a distinct disadvantage compared to features like The Whisper Man (which is 114 minutes long).

I am not surprised people are curious about Grand Theft Auto VI. So I get it; this is the most-anticipated video game in years and years, and Netflix was the only place to watch almost a half an hour of the game in action.

I watched Netflix’s GTA preview myself — although when I realized after about five minutes that it was just footage captured of the game with no talking heads discussing the features or controls, I turned it off. It doesn’t feel like a great sign for the state of cinema (or at least the state of cinema on Netflix), that nothing the company has — including a big new title with movie stars in it — can rate with a 30 minute preview of a video game you can’t even play for another month and a half.

Grand Theft Auto VI is currently scheduled for release on November 19. Do you think it’s really going to come out this time?