5 Netflix movies the world’s watching right now as one clocks up 54,200,000 views

High octane Jason Statham sequels, cute woodland-based animations, nervy Outback-set thrillers, Thai romantic action thrillers and mystery dramas about aquarium cleaning staff making pals with an octopus.

It’s all happening over on Netflix at the moment.

At any one time there’s around 3,000 movies available to watch over on the world’s most successful and popular streaming platform.

Yet generally, Netflix subscribers tend to gravitate towards the same titles. Usually those new films pushed by the service.

So while the following five flicks are in no way (whatsoever) the best films you can watch on there, they are the most globally popular at the moment according to Netflix’s own most-watched chart.

Let’s check out what the world’s watching, shall we…?

5. Mechanic: Resurrection – 5,900,000 views last week

This 2016 actioner did some decent business on its release in cinemas a decade ago.

A sequel to 2011’s ‘The Mechanic’, it made $125m from a $40m budget.

It never quite hits the heights of its predecessor, but if you go in expecting a sort of low rent version of a Bond, Bourne or Mission: Impossible movie, you won’t be too disappointed by what Resurrection serves up.

Jessica Alba, Michelle Yeoh and screen legend Tommy Lee Jones join The Stath for this mostly entertaining three star effort.

4. My Dearest Assassin – 8,500,000 views

Thailand’s My Dearest Assassin is essentially a romance drama awkwardly wedged into an assassin thriller.

The plot revolves around a rare blood type called ‘aurum blood’, which powerful criminals are desperate to get their hands on, leading to a young girl being raised inside a secret killer organisation hidden behind a Bangkok furniture warehouse.

As she grows up alongside two handsome assassins who both clearly fancy her, the film swings wildly between slow-motion flirting, emotional staring contests, and sudden and really quite extreme bursts of martial arts violence.

There are gangs, masked thugs, gunfights and a surprising amount of misty-eyed yearning for a film with designs on being a Thai John Wick.

It’s all a little bit ridiculous at times, but there’s enough stylish action and melodrama to keep things entertaining if you’re after something glossy and slightly silly to watch of an evening.

3. Remarkably Bright Creatures – 10,400,000 views

An older woman striking up a friendship with an octopus sounds like the sort of movie pitch you might expect from a four-year-old, but that’s basically the premise here.

Somehow, it’s a lot warmer and less silly than it should be.

Sally Field plays Tova, a widow working night shifts at a small aquarium while quietly carrying decades of grief over her son’s disappearance.

Her unlikely companion is Marcellus, a very intelligent octopus voiced by Alfred Molina, who spends much of the film escaping his tank and silently judging humanity.

When a young man arrives in town searching for his father, the film starts steering everybody together in a fairly sentimental but still very watchable way.

It’s gentle, slightly cheesy and occasionally bizarre, but Sally Field just about keeps the whole chatting mollusc operation afloat.

2. Apex – 16,200,000 views

Joining Wolf Creek, Walkabout and Wake in Fright in the annals of cinematic Outback history is Apex, Netflix’s new thriller starring Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton.

Reeling from the dramatic pre-titles death of her other half, Theron’s character embarks on an Aussie adventure out in the middle of nowhere.

There, she meets a friendly local who – wouldn’t you know?! – turns out not to be all that friendly at all.

Cue a smart cat ‘n’ mouse thriller revolving around ‘The Most Dangerous Game’. No, not drunk Jenga – hunting for humans.

1. Swapped – 38,700,000 views

Animated body-swap films are suddenly everywhere.

Pixar recently had characters swapping minds with robot animals in Hoppers. Now Netflix has arrived with Swapped, a fantasy adventure about two strange little creatures accidentally ending up inside each other’s bodies.

Michael B. Jordan voices Ollie, a fluffy creature called a pookoo, while Juno Temple plays Ivy, a bird-like rival species.

After a magical accident forces them to swap places, the pair are dragged into a colourful world filled with plant-animal hybrids, giant mountain beasts and all sorts of made-up fantasy terminology.

Following a promising first week in the charts, it’s done even better this time round.

The animation feels a little bit cut-price compared to, say, Dreamworks or Pixar. But it’s fun and – crucially – kids don’t tend to notice or care about that sort of thing.