The #1 Most-Watched Movie on Netflix “Makes Deliverance Look Like Disney”
The most-watched movie on Netflix today is a gut-wrenching survival thriller starring Charlize Theron that’s stressing out millions of viewers.
Charlize Theron has a surprisingly strong track record in genre work, even if she’s not always grouped with the rest of our favorite horror icons. She was excellent in Prometheus, placing her inside one of the most recognizable horror franchises ever, and, much earlier in her career, she took on a more overtly unsettling role in The Devil’s Advocate.
Even outside straight horror, she tends to turn up the intensity a notch. Mad Max: Fury Road leans into survival and body-horror imagery, and she even won her Oscar for playing Aileen Wuornos in Monster, possibly the darkest film she’s ever made.
Her new film, Apex, is already performing well for Netflix, currently sitting as the most-watched movie on the platform worldwide since its April 24 debut. It’s a hellish survival thriller set against the harsh, unforgiving backdrop of the Australian wilderness, evoking the language of Wolf Creek but with a much bigger budget.
Apex is directed by Baltasar Kormákur and written by Jeremy Robbins. The film stars Charlize Theron alongside Taron Egerton and Eric Bana, with Kormákur bringing a practical, gnarly-first approach that seems well-suited to the survival setup while keeping the focus on character and tension.
Drawing on the classic 1932 film The Most Dangerous Game, where humans are hunted for sport, Apex follows a grieving woman who retreats into the Australian wilderness, only to find herself being hunted by a ruthless killer as she fights to survive.
Since its release, Apex has quickly found a massive audience, rising to the number one spot on Netflix globally and holding its position as the most-watched title on the platform across all genres, further reinforcing Theron’s standing as a major authority in genre.