There has been a lot of talk recently about the Netflix Film “Bird Box” and the series “You.” It seems all that talking has done wonders for Netflix, as they reveal their huge viewership for the film and series.

Sandra Bullock stars in “Bird Box” as a woman trying to keep her two children safe, while all wear blindfolds to prevent seeing a monster. “You” stars Penn Badgley as a nasty psychopath who kidnaps and kills his own girlfriend. The series attracted tweets from women who begged to be kidnapped and murdered by Joe, his character in the series.

Huge viewership on Netflix

“Bird Box” received an amazing 80 million views for the four weeks after the film was released on 21 December 2018. Meanwhile “You” was originally on the Lifetime channel in the US, where it had, on average, 1.1 million views each week. In the first four weeks from its Netflix premiere on 26 December 2018, it has been viewed by 40 million households.

Both are controversial. As noted by NME, the release of “Bird Box” led to the “Bird Box Challenge,” where people did stupid things while blindfolded, including YouTuber Jake Paul driving and crossing a busy road with his eyes covered. It was also the cause of a teenage girl crashing her car while blindfolded. Netflix headed to Twitter to condemn the challenge.

Even Prince Philip, who recently had an accident, is being brought into the story.

Meanwhile, “You” attracted a strange response from women, with many taking to Twitter to ask Penn Badgley to kidnap and murder them. While Penn is, indeed, an attractive man, that is taking things a little too far.

Other Netflix hits

The streaming platform recently added the series “Sex Education,” which is also heading towards 40 million views in its first month on Netflix. The show is about the son of a sex therapist who ends up doing pretty much the same thing with his school friends. Netflix said in a statement that they are starting to have their original movies mirroring the success of their original series, as they offer something for “consumer enjoyment.”

Previously, Netflix never revealed their number of views.

However, with news doing the rounds of Netflix's share prices falling, maybe this is why they revealed the figures?

Sarah Paulson and ‘Bird Box’

Continuing with the “Bird Box” story, E!News notes that Sarah Paulson recently appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” She admitted that while she does star in the beginning of the film as the lead's friend, she has not actually watched it herself. Colbert asked her, after speaking of her appearance in the M. Night Shyamalan film “Glass.” In fact, it turns out she has never watched anything she’s done since appearing in “People v. O. J. Simpson.” Watch the funny interview below with Paulson wearing a dress that reminds me of a fancy lampshade.
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