Atlas (Jennifer Lopez) in front of a futuristic interface screen looking worried in Atlas (2024)Image via Netflix

SUMMARY

Despite a 17% Rotten Tomatoes score, Jennifer Lopez’s Netflix film Atlas is #1 globally.
Atlas had 56.3 million hours viewed, surpassing other Netflix hits like Thelma the Unicorn .
Audiences are flocking to Lopez’s action movies on Netflix, disregarding bad reviews from critics.

Atlas, Jennifer Lopez’s new Netflix action movie with a 17% Rotten Tomatoes score, tops the streamer’s global chart. From Brad Peyton (known for directing the Dwayne Johnson star vehicles Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, San Andreas, and Rampage) with a script by Leo Sardarian and Aron Eli Coleite, Netflix’s new sci-fi action film follows a data analyst who partners with an AI to confront a renegade robot bent on eradicating humanity. Other than Lopez in the lead role, the Atlas cast also includes Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, and Mark Strong.

Now, a few days after its release, Lopez’s new action movie has topped Netflix’s global chart. For the week of May 20-26, Atlas ranked #1 on Netflix’s Global Top 10 chart with 56.3 million hours viewed and 28.2 million total views. It finished well ahead of the second place Thelma the Unicorn which, in its second week in the Top 10, received 10.7 million views. Rounding out the rest of the Top 10 are Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Mother of the Bride, Disturbia, Sing 2, Ice Age: Collision Course,A Simple Favor, Madame Web, and Security.

Netflix’s Atlas sees Jennifer Lopez battle evil robots with the help of her AI-powered mech suit, and the twist ending may set up a future sequel.

Why Atlas Reviews Are So Bad

Simu Liu as Harlan Shepherd in Atlas (2024)
Atlas piloting Smith in battle in Atlas Simu Liu as Harlan in Atlas on Netflix A robot holding a baby in Netflix's I Am Mother The AI and child from Netflix's I Am Mother looking at one another
Simu Liu as Harlan Shepherd in Atlas (2024) Atlas piloting Smith in battle in Atlas Simu Liu as Harlan in Atlas on Netflix
A robot holding a baby in Netflix's I Am Mother The AI and child from Netflix's I Am Mother looking at one another

Atlas is the latest Lopez movie to become popular on Netflix despite bad reviews. Her first collaboration with the streaming service was The Mother, which was released in May 2023. While The Mother reviews raised Lopez’s refreshing return to her action roots, the movie was deemed disappointing by critics for its heavy reliance on typical genre tropes, resulting in a 43% Rotten Tomatoes score. However, The Mother was a massive hit on Netflix, scoring the streaming service’s biggest opening weekend of the year at the time with 83.7 million hours viewed and nearly 43 million total views.

Now, Atlas is the latest Netflix action movie to continue this trend for Lopez. While Atlas reviews once again recognize that Lopez makes an admirable effort to carry the movie’s immense scale, it is ultimately a sci-fi spectacle that collapses under the burden of its poorly written and superficial script. The bad reviews resulted in a 17% Rotten Tomatoes score from the critics, one of the worst scores of Lopez’s career, alongside The Boy Next Door (11%) and Gigli (6%). It doesn’t seem like audiences have enjoyed Atlas much either, indicated by its 51% audience score, which is also rotten.

Atlas continues a larger Netflix trend, not just for Lopez, as subscribers will generally watch whatever new release happens to be on the streaming platform that weekend, with little regard for its quality. It’s an especially disappointing trend in light of this past Memorial Day weekend as Furiosa, George Miller’s prequel to his 2015 masterpiece Mad Max: Fury Road, underperformed at the box office despite rave reviews. However, as audiences become increasingly hesitant about heading out to theaters, the Netflix trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.