With Netflix hitting a record 300 million global subscribers in January 2025, this is as good a time as any to check in to see which movies and TV shows are being watched by its huge consumer base.
Netflix has just released its latest Engagement Report, detailing which of its offerings proved most popular between July and December 2024, based on how many views each title received.
Subscribers consumed over 94 billion hours of content on Netflix in the second half of last year, and a wide variety of content features on its most-watched shows and movies lists including the rom-com flop A Family Affair and the less-than-perfect Netflix show The Perfect Couple.
I've picked out four of Netflix's most-watched titles that I think you should be catching up on, all of which have made it onto our best Netflix movies and best Netflix shows lists. Enjoy!
Rebel Ridge
- RT score: 96%
- Age rating: R
- Length: 132 minutes
- Director: Jeremy Saulnier
I watched action thriller Rebel Ridge recently after seeing some impressive reviews, and I wasn't disappointed. The movie stars Aaron Pierre as ex-Marine Terry Richmond, who becomes entangled in a web of corruption when he arrives in a small town in Louisiana to post bail for his cousin, with events culminating in a violent stand-off with the town's law enforcement.
While Rebel Ridge isn't jam-packed with action, there's plenty of impressive hand-to-hand combat and suspenseful shootouts – TechRadar’s Rowan Davies likened it to the original Rambo movie. There's also a powerful contemporary social drama element that makes this a deeply human thriller that engages the emotions.
Carry-On
- RT score: 87%
- Age rating: PG-13
- Length: 120 minutes
- Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Carry-On is a festive thriller that delivers some classic Die Hard-style action as Taron Egerton steps into the role of an unlikely hero fighting to avert a terrorist attack. Egerton plays young TSA agent Ethan, who’s working the busy Christmas Eve shift at Los Angeles International Airport when a sinister stranger (Jason Bateman) threatens to kill his girlfriend if he doesn’t allow a deadly nerve agent on board a flight.
Carry-On is an action-packed thrill ride packed with shootouts, race-against-the clock situations, and heart-pounding pursuits, so it's no wonder that Carry-On is Netflix's most-watched film from July to December 2024. If you've already streamed Carry-On, here are three more action movies with over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes to watch next.
Black Doves
- RT score: 94%
- Age rating: TV-MA
- Length: ~54 minute episodes
- Creator: Joe Barton
Black Doves is the Christmas spy thriller I didn't know I needed – I mean, who doesn't want to see Keira Knightley transform into a butt-kicking secret agent? Knightley stars as Helen Webb, an undercover spy posing as a politician's wife who steals government secrets for the clandestine titular spy organization. When she learns that her lover has been killed by London's criminal underworld, she joins forces with her old friend and fellow agent Sam (Ben Whishaw) on a quest for vengeance.
Knightley and Whishaw's chemistry lights up the screen, with the duo engaging in epic fight scenes in between bouts of understated British banter. While I'm excited that Netflix has renewed Black Doves, a disappointing season 2 update means we likely won't see it this year.
Nobody Wants This
- RT score: 94%
- Age rating: TV-MA
- Length: ~26 minute episodes
- Creator: Erin Foster
Nobody Wants This follows agnostic sex podcaster Joanne (Kristen Bell) and unconventional rabbi Noah (Adam Brody), who fall in love and have to try to make their relationship work despite their hugely different lives and disapproving families. Rom-coms are usually hit and miss on the best streaming service, but Nobody Wants This is one of the best rom-coms I've seen in a while. It's sweet, it’s light-hearted, and it's the fifth most-watched show from the second half of 2024 on the streamer (proving that everyone does, in fact, want this). Oh, and there's a second season on the way.
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