Netflix’s 107-minute sci-fi action thriller War Machine is already one of 2026’s biggest hits

Bit odd to say, considering the bloke already dominates a certain streaming service with Reacher, but Alan Ritchson has somehow managed to top himself in a completely different corner of the internet. His new Netflix sci-fi thriller has turned into one of the streaming monster-hits of 2026, which—let's be honest—even two years ago would have sounded like a punchline. Instead, here we are: War Machine has landed, and nobody can stop watching it.

In its first 91 days, War Machine racked up 139.9 million views on Netflix—making it the platform’s tenth most-watched film ever.

Thrills, aliens, Reacher with bigger guns

If you missed the internet’s endless chatter back in March, War Machine dropped onto Netflix on 6 March 2026, all guns blazing (figuratively and literally). It's directed by Patrick Hughes—he of The Hitman’s Bodyguard and The Expendables 3—and clocks in at a brisk 107 minutes. Ritchson leads the chaos as a military staff sergeant, but this isn't your bog-standard soldiers-vs-aliens guff—well, alright, it sort of is, but with Quite A Lot of Budget and the sort of pace you get from directors who like things blown up every eight minutes. The story? He’s part of a squad of RASP recruits stuck facing an alien killing machine, and evidently Netflix viewers could not get enough.

This is far from a one-man show, either; the supporting cast reads like a streaming service mixtape: Dennis Quaid doing grizzled duty, Stephan James, Jai Courtney (who’s still contractually obliged to carry a rifle in every film), Esai Morales, Keiynan Lonsdale, and Daniel Webber fill out the unit. So, proper ensemble—no surprise really that it’s been a hit internationally, not just in a couple of territories.

Massive numbers, silly records

How big a success are we talking? Not just a chart-topper—War Machine went straight to #1 on Netflix’s global rankings and has dug itself in. According to their own ‘What We Watched’ stats for the first half of the year, War Machine was the most-watched film on the service over that period. Then came Nielsen, whose industry bean-counters looked across all major platforms and worked it out in good old-fashioned minutes streamed.

• The Rip (Netflix): 4.43 billion minutes viewed
• War Machine (Netflix): 3.53 billion minutes viewed
• Jurassic World: Rebirth (Peacock/Netflix): 3.40 billion minutes viewed
• The Wrecking Crew (Prime Video): 2.95 billion minutes viewed
• The Crash (Netflix): 2.69 billion minutes viewed
• Remarkably Bright Creatures (Netflix): 2.62 billion minutes viewed
• Apex (Netflix): 2.54 billion minutes viewed
• Sinners (HBO Max): 2.51 billion minutes viewed
• Anaconda (2025) (Netflix): 2.33 billion minutes viewed
• The Running Man (2025) (Paramount+): 2.31 billion minutes viewed

So it’s second only to The Rip—but worth keeping in mind, that’s against everything streaming globally, kids’ fare excluded. Blockbuster territory, no question.

What next for Ritchson? Sequel news and Reacher returns

Netflix aren't daft—they've already started gearing up for War Machine 2. Official title: War Machines (take a wild guess what that means for the alien headcount). It's currently being written by Patrick Hughes again, this time joined by James Beaufort. Plot’s so under wraps it's practically classified, but the title alone is doing a lot of heavy lifting. As for Ritchson returning: not set in stone, but according to all the whispers and trades chatter, he’s a dead cert—though Netflix has yet to stick out a press release saying so. No release date yet either, so it’s probably a long wait. Still, you can rewatch Ritchson glower his way through the original right now.

Meanwhile, Ritchson himself is not missing a beat—he’s back later this summer for another round of Reacher on Prime Video, this time adapting the 13th Lee Child book, Gone Tomorrow. Season 4 drops 12 August 2026, already renewed for a fifth (which is rare air), plus there’s a spin-off called Neagley coming 16 September. Clearly, being built like the side of a barn continues to pay dividends.