Netflix’s animated fantasy film ‘Swapped’ overtakes Julia Roberts thriller in historic rankings
While Netflix is widely recognized for its hit original series such as “Stranger Things,” “Wednesday,” “Squid Game” and “Bridgerton,” the platform has also amassed several films that have become global phenomenons. The biggest historical highlight is “KPop Demon Hunters”, from 2025, an animated musical that leads the ranking of most watched with 325.1 million viewers and 541.8 million hours of viewing. Other successful productions include the thriller “Carry On”, with Taron Egerton (3rd place, 344.1 million hours), and the action comedy “Red Notice” (2nd place, 454.2 million hours).
The latest addition to this select group of historical films on the platform is “Swapped”, released on May 1, 2026. This feature-length animated fantasy film tells the story of two rival forest animals, voiced by Michael B. Jordan and Juno Temple, who swap bodies in a frantic adventure. The film debuted in second place on Netflix’s weekly ranking of most-watched English-language films, behind the thriller “Apex”, but quickly reached number one in the second week, maintaining it for another seven days and remaining in the Top 5 for ten consecutive weeks, securing its place among the top ten hits of all time in the English language.
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Netflix released, in a most recent update from July 27th to August 2nd, the list of the ten most watched English-language films. “Swapped” peaked at No. 7 that week, recording 3 million viewers and 5.1 million hours of viewing. With this, its cumulative global audience rose to 144.9 million viewers and 246.4 million hours. This feat allowed the animated production to climb one position in the Top 10 of all time, now occupying eighth place and surpassing the thriller “Leave the World Behind”, starring Julia Roberts in 2023, which accumulated 143.4 million views.
Netflix’s most watched films of all time
Check out the updated list of the ten most watched films of all time on the streaming platform:
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- KPop Demon Hunters (2025): 325.1 million views
- Red Notice (2021): 230.9 million views
- Carry On (2024): 172.1 million views
- Don’t Look Up (2021): 171.4 million views
- The Adam Project (2022): 157.6 million views
- Bird Box (2018): 157.4 million views
- Back in Action (2025): 147.2 million views
- Swapped (2026): 144.9 million views
- Leave the World Behind (2023): 143.4 million views
- War Machine (2026): 139.9 million views
The production “Swapped” is just 2.3 million views away from reaching seventh position, currently occupied by the action comedy “Back in Action” (2025), which marked Cameron Diaz’s return to the big screen alongside Jamie Foxx. However, the film dubbed by Michael B. Jordan will not be able to advance further in the general ranking. The all-time chart only considers views accumulated in the first 91 days after a title’s release, and “Swapped” completed this period on July 31, in the middle of the most recent measurement week.
Despite the limitations in the historical ranking, the animated film has the potential to remain in Netflix’s weekly ranking for more weeks. Although it left the Top 10 in the week of July 6, the production returned with strength, marking its 12th non-consecutive week on the list. If current performance is maintained, “Swapped” could remain in the Top 10 until three other major titles are released, possibly displacing it from the position.
Netflix has other major releases scheduled for August, such as the sci-fi horror “The Last House,” which premieres on August 7. The third relevant title, the crime thriller “The Whisper Man”, starring Robert De Niro, will only be released on August 28th. This schedule gives “Swapped” considerable space to continue accumulating views and consolidating itself as one of the platform’s biggest hits.
