Getty Image
Jennifer Lopez has been through a tough 2024 both professionally and personally, as the tepid response to her new album was then followed by the cancellation of her entire tour, both of which are being compounded by reports that she and Ben Affleck are headed for divorce.
J. Lo has, however, finally scored her first win of 2024, as reports indicate that her Netflix movie Atlas — despite being thoroughly mocked on social media — has been the No. 1 movie in the world since it was released on May 24, according to Variety.
“The most-watched title of the week overall, however, was Jennifer Lopez’s Atlas, the No. 1 movie for the second week in a row with 31.6 million views (1.3 billion minutes watched). [via Variety]
Atlas being “successful” — in so far as Netflix’s definition of the word, which is simply “time spent on their app” — however, is legitimately terrible news for movie fans.
Despite both critics and audiences largely agreeing that it’s simply not a good movie — 19% critics score and 48% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes — the film’s wide reach will encourage streamers to pump out films that are so undercooked the most common critique of their trailers is that they look like a movie made by A.I., which is exactly what people said of Atlas.
Garbage like Atlas putting literal butts in seats while genuinely well-crafted theater experiences such as The Fall Guy and Furiosa fail to do the same will only strengthen the leverage of the streamers, who are ultimately in the business of one thing: more. More TV shows, more movies, more subscribers.
And when all your chasing is more — look what the quantitative content demands of Disney+ have done to beloved brands such as Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars — your ethos will always be quantity over quality, which is antithetical to the very idea, and creation, of art, which is what media such as film and television remains.