The Twilight Saga may be a polarizing franchise for those of us who weren't "Twi-Hards" but there is no denying their popularity with the target audience. The films were all successful during their five-film run and that success is continuing on streaming. All five Twilight films debuted on Netflix on Friday and they all have been in the top ten since hitting the streamer.
As of this writing, Twilight is ranked third following Virgin River, which tops the Netflix chart, and Never Have I Ever which sits in second. In sixth place you'll find the second film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, followed by the third installment, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, in the seventh spot. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 follows in eighth place, while The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 rounds out the top ten. Some of the Twilight films are topping new offerings like Gunpowder Milkshake, which lands in ninth place after debuting last week, and the NBC-canceled Manifest, which had topped the chart after making its debut but currently ranks fourth after the first Twilight film. I kind of would've expected one or two of the Twilight films to crack the top ten after hitting streaming but all five films ranking in such a way is a bit of a surprise. I guess it shows that there are still fans out there for teenage vampire angst.
The Twilight Saga is based on the best-selling novels written by Stephenie Meyer and it spans four books (the final book was split into two films to wrap up the Saga). The Twilight films were what we would call critic-proof. Despite being dragged by critics, all of the films were very successful at the box office. Twilight came out the gate first with a rotten score of 49% on Rotten Tomatoes and things fell off further with The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which registered a 28% on the site. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse improved upon things a bit but it's still rotten at 48% while the final two films, Breaking Dawn Part 1 and Breaking Dawn Part 2, are also rotten at 25% and 49%, respectively. This didn't stop the film from becoming one of the most successful young adult franchises of all time with a combined global gross of $3.3 billion. Clearly, the audience responded and critics did not.
Twilight follows Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), a high schooler that moves to the Washington town of Forks. Soon she meets Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), who she eventually discovers is a vampire. Across all of the films, eventually, the pair go on to get married but they are met with their fair share of challenges, including a lover triangle involving werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner). The Saga also stars Peter Facinelli, Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Kellan Lutz, Anna Kendrick, Rachelle Lefevre, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Dakota Fanning, to name a few.
Are YOU surprised all of the Twilight films cracked the Netflix top ten?