Fan-Favorite Movie Franchise Cracks Netflix’s Top 10 Immediately After Debut

It didn’t take long for Twilight fever to take over Netflix. Just days after the entire franchise dropped on the streamer Friday, all five of the films have cracked the Top 10 chart. Based on the best-selling novels written by Stephenie Meyer, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, the movies have reignited fans’ passion for the series since making their way to Netflix.

The first Twilight film currently sits in third place, coming in only behind the new seasons of Virgin River and Never Have I Ever. New Moon is in sixth place, with Eclipse and Breaking Dawn: Part 1 immediately following and Breaking Dawn: Part 2 sitting at number 10. When they first debuted, the Twilight Saga films grossed $3.3 billion at the box office, making it one of the most successful young adult franchises of all time, despite being critically panned.

The films follow Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) as she moves to live with her father in Forks, Washington. There she meets Edwards Cullen (Robert Pattinson), whom she soon discovers is a vampire. The two quickly fall in love, but their relationship faces challenges not only from other supernatural forces but also from a love triangle including Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), who is a werewolf himself.

Stewart and Pattinson have distanced themselves from their Twilight roles in the years after their debut, going on to star in indie films as well as major blockbusters like Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and Matt Reeves’ upcoming DC movie, The Batman. While Pattinson in particular was known for hating Twilight while he starred in the films, in 2019, he told USA Today that the experience is now “just very warm memories.” He also commented on the “fascinating second wave of people appreciating [Twilight],” which he called “kind of cool.”

When it comes to possibly continue the film legacy of Twilight, things get tricky. Meyer recently published her new book Midnight Sun, which tells the story of the first book from Edward’s perspective, but it might be tricky to adapt into another film without retreading the same plot. Meyer also published Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined in 2015, which is a gender-swapped retelling of Bella and Edward’s story, centered instead on Beau Swan and Edythe Cullen. Again, a movie adaptation might face a similar problem of rehashing the first book’s plot, so Twilight fans will just have to enjoy the original films, streaming now on Netflix.