If you haven’t watched the new streaming release Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery yet, get on that. The new Rian Johnson movie is tonally a bit of a departure for Benoit Blanc, but it’s a great, engaging mystery with beautiful cinematography. (Our review.) It doesn’t surprise me in the least it’s still at No. 1 on Netflix’s Top 10 list globally right now. What does surprise me? A new rom-com with a 36% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes about a lady St. Nick is being watched more than Jay Kelly is. Sorry, George Clooney.
Jay Kelly’s been a solid entry on Netflix’s Top 10 list both globally and domestically since its hit the streaming service on December 5th following a brief theatrical release, so it’s definitely had a nice little run on the streamer, particularly for a dramedy from The Squid and the Whale director Noah Baumbach.
I'd argue that longevity was the reason it's being beat out by a silly rom-com with a not-so-ho-ho-hopeful Rotten Tomatoes score, but My Secret Santa actually first hit Netflix two days before on December 3rd. Plus: K-Pop Demon Hunters is still solidly in the Top 10, despite being released in June. It probably has something to do with the subject matter.
So, What Is My Secret Santa About?
My Secret Santa is a new Christmas movie about a single mom who dons a fake belly and some Chad Powers-style makeup in order to look like jolly old St. Nicholas. She’s doing this to fund her kid’s lessons at a popular ski resort, which she could not normally afford. However, employees get a steep discount.
While engaging in this subterfuge, she meets the resort owner, whom she’d met prior while not in her Santa disguise. Hijinks ensue. For the right crowd, the movie’s a charmer, and critics were a bit more excited about it, landing the movie a 73% rating on RT. However, audiences who are watching it are loving it a whole lot less, so it’s a bit surprising that it’s beating George Clooney on the Top 10 list.
Here's how everything is stacking up right now, globally:
- Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
- My Secret Santa
- Jay Kelly
- K-Pop: Demon Hunters
- The Super Mario Bros Movie
- Death Wish
- The Hustle
- The Croods
- The Lorax
- A Merry Little X-Mas
Not a bad list at all, but let's unpack the order of these gems you can watch with your Netflix subscription.
I Don't Think The Subject Matter Is The Only Reason Though.
I think a lot of this has to do with how people consume Netflix and the different types of audiences that are using the service. For the purposes of this conversation, I think it makes sense to think about users as either people knowing what they want to watch or people not knowing what they want to watch.
Jay Kelly is a movie getting awards buzz from a popular indie director. Despite starring huge names like Sandler and Clooney, it's not a broad comedy designed for everyone. It's the type of movie with a self-selecting fanbase, the type that are going to know when the movie is coming out and probably get to it within a few weeks of hitting the 2025 Netflix schedule. (And probably take some lessons about aging out of it, as well.)
My Secret Santa, despite starring Alexandra Breckenridge, who has a big Netflix fanbase from Virgin River, is the type of movie that is designed to be stumbled on. It's going to get a lot more clicks from people who are drawn to the subject matter and not actively seeking it out. Because of that, it's the type of movie that's much more likely to have extended longevity on the service. Plus, 'tis the season.
Regardless, it's nice to see Netflix doing well with its originals. There are times in which the Top 10 is dominated by films the streamer has syndicated. Not right now. While some older titles are on there, the top 4 are all things exclusive to Netflix, and as Jay Kelly and My Secret Santa show, they're designed to please different audiences looking for different kinds of material.
