The Netflix-AGBO featureExtractionis one of the biggest movies available on the streaming giant right now and producing partnersJoeandAnthonyRussocouldn’t be happier about it. The Russo brothers reacted to the action movie’s success during an exclusive interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub just hours after we learned a sequel to theChris Hemsworth-led action flick was happening after Joe Russo confirmed he closed the deal to pen the script.
Joe, who wrote the script forExtractionas well as serving in a co-producer capacity on the feature, was the first to share his reaction to Netflix’s projections the movie would hit 90 million viewers in the first four weeks.
“It’s interesting, they don’t do a lot of projecting. They’re very guarded with their information, which is a good thing because you don’t set expectations up and then not hit them. So I’m happy with that as a filmmaker there’s not a lot of tracking to either get your hopes up or dash your hopes. It just performs and then you find out how it’s performing. When you think about the amount of people and if you were to compare that to a box-office release, then that’s the equivalent of a movie making over a billion dollars in the market like that. But that’s a significant impression on an audience.”
To this, Anthony added,
“Sometimes it’s hard to talk about in relation to box office because there’s more external. Those numbers are being released for an objective public narrative, and Netflix doesn’t handle things that way so it’s a little harder. But, yeah, at the very least we all know that it was a massive hit for Netflix. And like Joe was saying, it left an impression on our audience. I was just really grateful for that opportunity and that platform because it’s all about reaching audience.”
Joe also remarked on howExtraction’s success was as much a win for AGBO, their production company, as well as Netflix. As he told us, “Just for us and our company, AGBO, which is built on the tenet […] that it’s an agnostic company. It’s not prejudicial in terms of its distribution or form of distribution. It’s really a storyteller’s medium. It’s focused on telling stories. We are happy to share our stories in whatever medium we feel like we’re going to get the most people to see them, because that’s the mission of telling a communal story. So it’s been pretty exciting to be involved with our first digital distribution venture, [and] getting this kind of response to it.”
The Russo brothers' comments onExtraction’s instant (and projected) success with viewers was first touched on in a tweet sharedon their Twitterover the weekend of May 2. During this same weekend, Hemsworth also took time tothank fans for watchingExtractionand celebrated Netflix’s projection of 90 million viewers saying, in part, “We are blown away by the response and the support. On behalf of myself, the Russo Brothers, Netflix, our director Sam Hargrave, thank you so so much. We love you guys.”
For more, check out ourexplainer on that mysteriousExtractionending as well asour round-up ofmovies you may watch next if you lovedExtraction.
