‘Resident Evil’ dethrones ‘Stranger Things’ from Netflix’s top spot despite poor reviews

On July 14, ‘Resident Evil’, the new live-action series from the Capcom video game saga, landed on Netflix. With a long history thanks to the films of Milla Jovovich, the franchise is among one of the most beloved by fans of video games and, therefore, of its adaptations (to a greater or lesser extent). That’s maybe why ‘Resident Evil’, despite having received rather cold professional reviews, has taken the first place from ‘Stranger Things’ and its unstoppable fourth season as the most watched series on the platform today, according to Total Film.

Despite having unseated the Hawkins youth series, the comparisons are odious: ‘Resident Evil’ has earned 51% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with 25% audience support, while ‘Stranger Things’ exceeds 90% on both parameters.. The emergence of the new adaptation of the saga on Netflix has led to its rapid rise to first place, but both critics and the public have agreed on the poor quality of the production.

“Disappointing in many ways…It’s not worth going into details.”has written one of the users in the public reviews. “One of the worst series that Netflix has produced, it destroys the original saga, I hope we don’t have a second season for the good of all”, writes another prophesying the future of the series. However, for tastes, colors, because others have been delighted with this new reboot, just as it happened with the professional critics. “Excellent, many negative reviews come from fans who have not had what they expectedbut it’s brilliantadded another user.

It downhill without brakes

If we take a look at the data of the rest of the productions of the franchise, we verify that the Netflix series is the last link in a long chain where interest has been dissipating. The saga started in 2002 with ‘Resident Evil’, whose audience score rose to a respectable 67%. However, the sequels were a symptom of exhaustion, since ‘Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse’ had 60%, ‘Resident Evil: Extinction’ with 58% while ‘Resident Evil 4: Afterlife’ and ‘Resident Evil: The final chapter’ shared a drop to 48%.

The saga seemed to resurface with the great 65% audience that ‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City’ achieved, the reboot totally unrelated to the Jovovich tapes. But it was a mirage, because Netflix brought it back in the form of a series twice: ‘Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness’, an animated series with a low 39% audience share, and the live action series at hand, which has the data lowest so far (a very meager 25%).