"The Irishman" Proves Netflix Isn't Kidding Around This Oscar Season with 26.4 Million Views in the First Week

Scene from The Irishman (2019)

By all accounts, Netflix has been crushing it this awards season. This past week saw the streaming service dominate the Golden Globe nominations with major nominations for Dolemite is My Name, The Two Popes, Marriage Story, and the Martin Scorsese-directed epic The Irishman. All of the films look like their on track to dominate awards season and possibly lead the Oscars. That's not only the critics talking. According to data released by chief Ted Sarandon, The Irishman is a big success because of the availability on Netflix. With a reported 26.4 million households seeing the film in the first week and a potential 48 million projected for the first month, it's a number that looks to prove why Scorsese and Netflix were smart to collaborate on this 3.5-hour film. It may have made the film a bigger hit than a conventional release strategy.

Things looked like they would be working against Scorsese in the weeks leading up to The Irishman. For starters, he gained controversy for comparing Marvel movies to theme park attractions before releasing an opinion piece that went into further detail. It created conflict surrounding what the idea of art was and who owned it. For any other filmmaker, attacking Marvel with criticism might have lead to an effective boycott. Instead, it was Scorsese's chance to put his name out there and raise questions about what type of person would watch a 3.5-hour movie. His opinion piece alluded to contemporary theater chains hurting artier films by not showing, and in this case, it might have been true simply because it was a 3.5-hour movie trying to gain any form of a box office.

If one wants to understand the rocky road that Scorsese had to climb, they merely had to look at his previous film Silence. With a box office of $23.7 million, the film failed to make back its budget and played in limited release for so short of a time that it barely existed. Given that it was almost 50 minutes shorter than The Irishman, it had less of a challenge of fitting in screenings per day, but maybe the subject was just too non-commercial for viewers. Still, where was the place for challenging art? Would Scorsese be able to sell The Irishman on talent alone? Apparently, the answer is clear and present: yes. Not only was it being sold as one of the best films of the Fall, but one with the revolutionary use of de-aging technology and exploration of what it meant to grow old and regret your past mistakes.

What I can say is that I saw The Irishman in theaters, which was an obstacle unto itself. It played in limited release and I'm only fortunate to live near an independently owned theater that has played the majority of Netflix's Oscar-pushing movies in the past two years. Even then, it's the type of schedule that only plays the film with half-hour turnovers. Basically, that means it's roughly a four-hour block of time that you could've booked a 90-minute movie twice (i.e. more profit). Also, it means that if you have an emergency come up, an afternoon show would be followed by an evening show that might get you out at midnight. There was no easy way to plan it, and it makes sense why many seek to see it at home instead.

The 26.4 million viewers make sense, especially given that it was released the day before Thanksgiving. It meant that families could gather together and watch it (provided they were into that). They could even pause it and, as some chose to do, watch it in increments or "episodes." Considering that the same numbers that Sarandon released suggested that many watched at least 70% of the film, that proves that there's an interest available for these types of films. It's just that a conventional mode, as stated, would be near impossible for regular audiences right now. Even if The Irishman got a traditional release, what makes it so different in how often it could be seen?

These numbers look rather positive for a variety of reasons. Chief among them is that where Silence failed in theaters for being quiet and long, The Irishman succeeded despite being quieter and longer. Maybe it's just that it had a flashier cast and more buzz. Maybe it's just that Scorsese used the controversy bump to his advantage. Whatever it was, it helps Netflix's Oscar push in ways that are yet to be seen. Will its popularity mean that it ends up being one of the biggest films of the season? After all, it has an availability not matched by any other major nominee. Marriage Story maybe has a chance to match The Irishman in buzz, but for now, Scorsese has the advantage not only in quality but in his legacy. In fact, Netflix has also released a conversation with the cast as well as a podcast on the making of the film. They really want it to win. If the numbers are telling the truth, it may work out after all.