Netflix Reveals Their Most-Watched Animated Film Of All Time
The most-watched Netflix animated movie ever is a great one.
This article is more than 2 years old
Slowly but surely, streaming services are beginning to release their viewing numbers, and super streamer Netflix just delivered a big surprise. The Mitchells vs. The Machines, their animated family film, has now become the streamer’s most-watched animated film they’ve ever released.
According to Netflix, the critically acclaimed animated film was watched by an estimated 53 million viewers during the film’s first 28 days. The movie debuted on Netflix on April 28, 2021.
The Mitchells vs. The Machines comes from the same team that put together Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse at Sony Pictures Animation and initially was intended for a theatrical release. Originally titled Connected, Sony set the film for a big-screen debut, but the COVID pandemic made Sony rethink its plan.
Netflix purchased the Phil Lord and Christopher Miller family film for $100 million and changed the title back to its original (The Mitchells vs the Machines) once the deal was finalized.
The film, written by Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe (the pair also directed the animated feature) tells the story of Katie Mitchell (Abbi Jacobson), an aspiring filmmaker who is on her way to college to pursue her dreams. She often clashes with her father, the technophobe and nature-obsessed Rick Mitchell (voiced by Danny McBride).
The night before Katie is scheduled to go away to college, she gets into another fight with her father, resulting in him accidentally breaking her laptop. Fearing that their relationship will be forever ruined, Rick decides instead of having Katie fly off to college, he will load up the family car, and together they will drive her to college.
At the same time, Mark Bowman, a tech entrepreneur, announces that his highly intelligent AI, named PAL, is obsolete. He then unveils his new line of home robots to take PAL’s place. PAL, though, isn’t having any of it. She seeks revenge by taking over Mark’s company and orders all the new robots to capture humans near and far and launch them into space.
The Mitchells are mid-way through their cross-country drive in this Netflix film when the machines begin their assault on the human race. At a Kansas road stop café, the Mitchells are able to avoid capture, and Rick decides to remain safe, they should stay put.
Katie has different ideas and eventually convinces Rick to help save the world. Helping them are two defective robots, Eric and Deborahbot 5000.
The defective robots inform the Mitchells the only way to stop PAL is to upload a kill code. They make it to a Colorado mall to attempt the upload but PAL orders all the mall’s gadgets to stop them. They eventually defeat the gadgets but also destroy their ability to upload the code.
The next step in this Netflix film is for the Mitchells to decide the best way to take down PAL is to head to Silicon Valley and upload the code directly into PAL. They make it to Silicon Valley, disguising themselves as robots to gain access to PAL.
But PAL is smart. She knows the Mitchells are there and what they plan to do. She has a plan of her own. She plays surveillance footage from the café showing Katie talking to her brother Arron secretly admitting she was pretending to have faith in her father so he would take them to upload the kill code.
But PAL is smart. She knows the Mitchells are there and what they plan to do. She has a plan of her own. She plays surveillance footage from the café showing Katie talking to her brother Arron secretly admitting she was pretending to have faith in her father so he would take them to upload the kill code.
This Netflix movie digs deep here. The dissension between father and daughter only grows worse. How do Rick and Katie repair the chasm that is their relationship? And how do they do it while trying to save the world from robots taking over?
The Mitchells vs The Machines is a well-thought-out, enjoyable family film that may or may not require tears of joy or sadness (or both) to be shed. The vocal cast includes McBride and Jacobson as well as Maya Rudolph, Eric André, Academy Award-winner Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen, John Legend, and Chrissy Teigen.
The Netflix numbers are impressive for The Mitchells vs. The Machines as they dwarf other animated films during that same time period. The animated film Over the Moon brought in 43 million viewers to Netflix while another animated title, The Willoughby’s, snagged 38 million views.
These numbers pale in comparison to some of Netflix’s non-animated features. Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead has already hit 75 million views while the new Kevin Hart film, Fatherhood, is rolling in 74 million during its first 28 days.
Of course, the Chris Hemsworth megahit Extraction leads the way by far with over 99 million watches on Netflix. Coming in a distance, though still impressive second, is the Sandra Bullock thriller Bird Box with 89 million.
You can help add to The Mitchells vs The Machines Netflix viewing numbers by checking out the wonderful family film now playing on the super streamer.
