It's The End Of An Era For Alan Ritchson's Netflix Sci-Fi Movie With 15.2B Minutes Viewed

Alan Ritchson gave Netflix a massive smash hit with his sci-fi war movie, War Machine, once it hit the streamer earlier this year. The movie put Ritchson in an action-lead role as the unnamed soldier, only referred to as 81, who finds himself fighting off an alien invasion when his final step of training for a special unit is interrupted by giant mechs attacking humanity.

War Machine received generally positive reviews, sitting at 66% on Rotten Tomatoes. The public proved to be very interested in it, even if it only scored a 63% with audiences. The movie, which is essentially Ritchson's version of Predator, immediately shot to the top of Netflix's daily and weekly charts after launching on March 6. Netflix reported an impressive 39.3 million views in its first three days of release, amassing 71.4 million hours watched.

From that point forward, War Machine was a viewership juggernaut for Netflix. It would up spending eight weeks in Netflix's weekly top 10 charts, staying in the top 5 spots for the first five weeks. Over its first 91 days of release, Netflix revealed War Machine earned 139.9 million views, which is good enough to be one of the streamer's 10 most viewed movies in history. It also easily allowed Ritchson's movie to become Netflix's most-watched 2026 original movie.

However, that run is now over. War Machine has officially been dethroned, as Swapped moves to No. 1 on the year with 143.2 million views. Ritchson's sci-fi movie now holds down the No. 2 spot on the 2026 charts. But despite this fall from the top, War Machine remains a massive win for Netflix.

War Machine Is Still One Of Netflix's Biggest 2026 Success Stories

War Machine might not be able to say it is Netflix's No. 1 movie of 2026 anymore, but everyone involved with the movie still has plenty of reasons to celebrate. Its second-place standing is still very impressive. War Machine still holds the record among Netflix's 2026 movies for best week 2 viewership, where it got 44.4 million views. It also saw staggeringly low drops in weeks 7 and 8.

Overall, Netflix has even reported that interest in War Machine sustained beyond the 91 days the streamer counts toward all-time records. The movie finished the first half of 2026 with 147 million views, meaning it still has more views than Swapped overall on the year. Its total now is at least 150.2 million views, with War Machine re-entering the weekly top 10 chart for July 20–July 26.

As mentioned, War Machine also still holds a place in Netflix's top 10 all-time most-watched movies list, too. Granted it is barely holding onto that claim after being passed by Swapped, knocking it down to No. 10 overall. It's unclear how long War Machine will be able to hold onto that spot, but even if it falls out, these viewership numbers are still better than Netflix ever could've hoped for.

War Machine might have been exclusively released on Netflix, but it is not one of the movies that the streamer directly produced. Netflix acquired the sci-fi blockbuster after Lionsgate changed course on giving it a theatrical release. The numbers clearly show that Netflix was right to take a swing with War Machine, and they'll continue to reap the rewards of it for years to come.

War Machine Remains Netflix's Only New Franchise Starter

Rather than let this movie exist as a single, standalone success story, Netflix believes that these numbers are replicable. That's why Netflix confirmed development on a War Machine sequel after it officially earned a place in the top 10 all-time charts. Even though Swapped has now surpassed it and the streamer has had other strong performers, War Machine remains alone among Netflix's 2026 originals when it comes to starting a franchise.

Ritchson will return to star as 81 in the sequel, which is currently being developed by writer/director Patrick Hughes. There is no timetable for when War Machine 2 will release on Netflix, but the movie is moving along quickly. Hughes has hinted that a screenplay by him and James Beaufort is already completed. He even confirmed that the sequel will be titled War Machines, taking a page out of Aliens' playbook.

It appears that everyone involved is working to get Ritchson's 81 back in front of the camera and fighting alien mechs once more. They are looking to strike while the iron is hot with this new property and avoid long gaps that have sometimes come between Netflix sequels. It's an understandable approach given the first movie's popularity, especially since Hughes told ScreenRant exclusively before the first film even came out that the second installment was fully mapped out.

War Machine's Massive Viewership Puts More Pressure On The Sequel

The fast development is surely being done so that War Machines has the best chance possible to achieve the same level of success as the first movie. Whether the sequel can match War Machine's viewership figures remains to be seen. But that hope gives the follow-up a completely different set of expectations from the original.

Lionsgate and Netflix certainly had some belief that War Machine could connect with viewers. After all, it is made in a similar framework as many other successful streaming movies: an action-heavy genre movie with a recognizable streaming star and a rather simple plot so viewers won't get lost if at-home distractions emerge. But it's unlikely either party expected record-breaking viewership numbers.

War Machines will be compared against these figures. Hollywood typically wants sequels to do even better than their predecessors, which will be no small task in this case. If the sequel gets a more substantial marketing push from Netflix, gains more stars, and ups the spectacle, it won't be impossible. But if the next entry falls shy of War Machine's performance, there will be some who look at it as a disappointment.

Netflix sequels can sometimes struggle to duplicate strong viewership results, as most of the streamer's movies find short-term popularity instead of sustained relevance. Hopefully, War Machines will not follow suit and wind up becoming an equally massive hit for Netflix. That would go to show that War Machine's impressive viewing data was no fluke and enable Ritchson to keep returning as 81 for additional installments that potentially perform better with each entry.