The anticipated adaptation of the young adult dystopian novel “Uglies” was watched 20 million times in its first three days on Netflix and debuted at No. 2 on the streamers most-watched list despite abysmal reviews that rate it among the worst-received original titles of the year.
Laverne Cox and Joey King in "Uglies."
“Uglies,” based on the 2005 book of the same name and starring Joey King, Chase Stokes and Laverne Cox, was the second most-watched film on Netflix in the week of Sept. 9 to Sept. 15.
It was released on Sept. 13 and, in its first three days, was watched 20.8 million times despite having only a 19% critics approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and reviews that called it a "throwaway product" and “instantly dated.”
“Uglies” joins other 2024 Netflix releases "Mother of the Brides" (13%), "Trigger Warning" (20%) and "Incoming" (24%) as the setreamer’s worst-reviewed originals of the year.
“Uglies” came in second in the week to "Rebel Ridge”—"an electrifying and crowd-pleasing work of cinema" with a 96% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes—which was in the No. 1 spot for the second week in a row with 38.6 million views.
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- "Rebel Ridge” — 38.6 million views
- “Uglies” — 20.8 million
- "Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter — 8.1 million views
- The Deliverance" — 7 million
- "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" — 5.8 million
- "The Day After Tomorrow" — 5.6 million
- "Edge of Tomorrow" — 4.1 million
- "The Union" — 3.9 million
- "The Shack" — 3.5 million
- "Gemini Man" — 3.5 million
If “Uglies” gets a sequel. The film is an adaptation of the first book in a trilogy, but Netflix has not greenlit any further movies so far.
"Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld takes place in a dystopian world where cosmetic surgery is a requirement for every resident at the age of 16—turning "uglies" into "pretties." The main character, Tally Youngblood (King), rebels against the system after two of her friends show her the secret downsides to the Pretty Operation. The book is the first in a series that also includes "Pretties" and "Specials."
- "Uglies" was No. 21 on Amazon's bestselling Teen & Young Adult book chart as of Tuesday. The movie was also No. 1 on the children's eBook chart and ranked No. 355 in the overall Kindle store.