Netflix's first film "Beasts of No Nation" featuring Idris Elba had 3 million viewers over the weekend, according to Engadget.
Written and directed by "True Detective" director Cary Fukunaga and starring the British actor Elba, the war drama surpassed the standard audience numbers for a traditionally released movie or an independent film, The Verge reported.
In the past, Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos kept the viewing numbers quiet, according to Yahoo! Finance. But in an interview with Deadline Hollywood, Sarandos opened up about the viewing numbers.
"It is worth sharing that this movie, in North America alone, has over 3 million views already. Which I think is a bigger audience than any specialty film could ever hope for in its first two weeks of release, and maybe for its entire run,” Sarandos told Deadline Hollywood. “In the first week of release, Beasts of No Nation was the most watched movie on Netflix, in every country we operate in.”
"And we focused on giving consumers the choice to see it in theaters, in the places where we could, with screens in the U.S. and UK. But our focus has always been on the total audience." Sarandos added. "You know we famously don’t give out viewing numbers."
Large theater chains like AMC Cinemas, Carmike Cinemas, Cinemark and Regal Entertainment pushed back Netflix's decision to release "Beasts of No Nation" online and in theaters at the same time, The Verge reported. Netflix compromised with the U.S. theaters agreeing to a limited release on 31 screens in 19 different American markets.
In 2016 Netflix plans to release more films online featuring stars like Adam Sandler, Terry Crews, Rob Schneider, Nick Nolte and Pee-wee Herman, according to The Verge.
