Pop a cork and pour the bubbly! Viewers were all too happy to sip on the France-set holiday rom-com Champagne Problems, putting the movie at No. 1 on the English film list with 20.5 million views. In the latest in Netflix’s holiday fare, Minka Kelly stars as Sydney Price, a workaholic executive who is sent to France on business just before Christmas to secure the acquisition of a world-renowned Champagne brand. She allows herself one night of indulgence in the city of lights and meets Henri (Tom Wozniczka), falling into a whirlwind one-night romance, only to discover the next day that he is the son of the Champagne brand’s founder.
Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys continued to keep audiences guessing in their psychological thriller The Beast in Me, which took the No. 1 spot on the English TV list for a second week with 14.1 million views. In the series, Danes is Aggie, a grieving writer who is both horrified and fascinated by her new neighbor, Nile Jarvis (Rhys), a real estate mogul who may or may not have killed his first wife, and who convinces her to write her next book about him.
Stranger Things fans are already setting records ahead of the Season 5 premiere on Nov. 26 at 5 p.m. PT with its first four episodes. All four previous seasons made their way to the Top 10, with Season 1 taking the No. 3 spot (4.1 million views), Season 4 at No. 5 (3.3 million views), Season 2 at No. 7 (3.1 million views), and Season 3 at No. 9 (3.1 million views). This marks the first time a series has had four previous seasons in the Top 10 all at the same time, ahead of a new season’s premiere, conveying the level of anticipation viewers have for the 1980s-set sci-fi horror series’ final season.
In non-English TV, the historical fiction drama Last Samurai Standing fought its way to No. 1 with 7.2 million views. The series is set in impoverished 1878 Japan where 292 samurai fighters gather for a competition touting a prize of ¥100,000 to the warrior who can fight and kill his way to Tokyo having collected the most samurai tags off the other fighters.
Audiences were wide awake for In Your Dreams, putting the children’s animated adventure at No. 2 on the English film list with 16.6 million views; in the film, a brother and sister enter the dreamworld in search of the elusive wish-granting Sandman. Meanwhile, those looking for a darker dream indulged in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, which took the No. 3 spot with 14.6 million views as audiences continue to be drawn to the auteur’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s epic tale starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, and Christoph Waltz.
Another book-based tale held viewers rapt, as they were drawn in by the critically acclaimed Train Dreams, starring Joel Edgerton. Directed by Clint Bentley, the film came in at No. 7 (6.2 million views) in its premiere week and currently has a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Based on the beloved novella by Denis Johnson, Train Dreams follows logger Robert Grainier (Edgerton) as he experiences love, loss, and weathers life in the rapidly changing world of the early 20th century Pacific Northwest.
Two new documentaries made it onto the English film list this week. First is true crime documentary The Carman Family Deaths, which debuted at No. 4 (10.2 million views), exploring the case of Linda Carman who disappeared at sea while on a fishing trip with her 22-year-old son, Nathan, who was found in a life raft a week later with a story that didn’t quite add up. Next is Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy, a documentary celebrating the life and cultural impact of iconic Mexican American singer Selena Quintanilla through never-before-seen footage and intimate interviews. The movie premiered at No. 8 on the list with 4.8 million views.
For those seeking a bit of mystery, all three seasons of the 2017 thriller series Absentia made the Top 10, with Season 1 at No. 2 (8.2 million views), Season 2 at No. 4 (4 million views), and Season 3 at No. 10 (2.3 million views). The enthralling story follows FBI Special Agent Emily Byrne (Stana Katic), who disappears while in pursuit of a serial killer and emerges six years later to learn that her husband has had her declared dead and is raising their son with his new wife — and that Emily is now the prime suspect in a new investigation. WWE Raw fans showed up for the legendary John Cena’s final Raw appearance — and one of the final three stops on his WWE farewell tour — putting the live TV event at No. 6 on the English TV list with 3.1 million views, and showing off the 20,000-plus attendees at Madison Square Garden.
In non-English films, the third entry in the popular Indian legal comedy series Jolly LLB 3 took No. 1 with 5.4 million views, entertaining viewers as the two lawyers nicknamed Jolly from the previous two films join forces on a new case in which they seek justice for a farmer’s widow. At No. 3 on the list with 1.9 million views is the Danish romantic drama Mango, depicting the unlikely romance between Lærke (Josephine Park), a workaholic hotelier, and Alex (Dar Salim), the Spanish mango orchard owner whose land she’s trying to buy. New this week to the non-English film list is Brazilian film The Son of a Thousand Men, which debuted at No. 6 with 1.6 million views and stars Rodrigo Santoro in an adaptation of Valter Hugo Mãe’s novel about a lonely fisherman, Crisóstomo (Santoro), who longs to be a father and whose life changes when he meets and fosters an orphan boy named Camilo (Miguel Martines).
At No. 2, with 6.4 million views, on the non-English TV list is the Korean romance series Dynamite Kiss, about a woman, Go Da-rim (Ahn Eun-jin), who pretends to be married with a child so she can work at a children’s products company, and whose new boss is an old flame jealous of her “new” circumstances. At No. 3 on the list with 5.5 million views is the Spanish thriller The Crystal Cuckoo about a medical student named Clara (Catalina Sopelana) who travels to a remote village to learn more about the young man whose heart she received in a life-saving transplant — but who uncovers strange happenings that may point to a larger mystery, including a series of unexplained disappearances.
