Netflix Australia officially launches today, and the biggest question everyone is asking is this: just how much decent content does it actually have? When it comes to movies that are popular with Australians, the answer is: disappointingly few.
Popcorn picture from Shutterstock
Netflix doesn’t release an exact number of titles it has available in any country. To get a sense of just how broad its coverage is down under, we decided to see how many of the movies that had reached #1 in Australian cinemas between 2010 and 2014 are available on the service. While part of the appeal of any streaming service is the ability to discover hidden gems, it’s also important to have popular content — and topping the box office charts is a clear indicator of popularity.
We don’t expect that Netflix (or anyone) would have full coverage — movie studios will typically partner with whoever offers the most money or other sweeteners, and rivals Presto, Stan and Quickflix have all signed up various big franchises. But even so, we were surprised by just how few of the biggest movies in Australia in recent years were actually available through Netflix. This chart sums up the situation:
Year | Box office #1s | On Netflix AU | % available |
---|---|---|---|
2014 | 32 | 3 | 9.38% |
2013 | 34 | 5 | 14.71% |
2012 | 31 | 2 | 6.45% |
2011 | 35 | 8 | 22.86% |
2010 | 26 | 8 | 30.77% |
Of the 158 movies that topped Australian box office takings between 2010 and 2014, just 26 are available on Netflix Australia. While older flicks have a better chance of appearing, even in 2010 less than a third of the chart-topping movies have made their way to Netflix. That doesn’t mean you won’t have a lot to watch — but if you think of a popular movie, the chances are it isn’t on Netflix right now.
Over at Gizmodo, Luke has done a similar comparison for geeky TV shows, with even more depressing results: 20 shows that were on Netflix US weren’t on the local version.
MORE:
•How To Access Netflix US Using Your Netflix Australia Account
Here are the full listings for each of those years:
2014 | On Netflix AU? |
---|---|
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug | Yes |
Frozen | Yes |
The Wolf of Wall Street | No |
Wolf Creek 2 | No |
Non-Stop | No |
300: Rise of an Empire | No |
The Monuments Men | No |
Noah | No |
The Lego Movie | No |
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | No |
The Other Woman | No |
Bad Neighbours | No |
Godzilla | No |
X-Men: Days of Future Past | No |
The Fault in Our Stars | No |
22 Jump Street | Yes |
Transformers: Age of Extinction | No |
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | No |
Hercules | No |
Lucy | No |
Guardians of the Galaxy | No |
The Inbetweeners 2 | No |
Into the Storm | No |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | No |
The Maze Runner | No |
Gone Girl | No |
Fury | No |
Interstellar | No |
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 | No |
Horrible Bosses 2 | No |
Paddington | No |
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies | No |
Total #1 movies | 32 |
Available on Netflix AU | 3 |
% available | 9.38% |
2013 | On Netflix AU? |
---|---|
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | Yes |
Life of Pi | No |
Django Unchained | No |
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters | No |
Safe Haven | No |
Silver Linings Playbook | No |
I Give It a Year | No |
Oz the Great and Powerful | No |
A Good Day to Die Hard | No |
The Croods | No |
Oblivion | No |
Iron Man 3 | No |
Star Trek Into Darkness | No |
The Hangover Part III | Yes |
The Great Gatsby | No |
Fast & Furious 6 | No |
World War Z | No |
Man of Steel | Yes |
Despicable Me 2 | No |
The Heat | No |
The Wolverine | No |
Now You See Me | No |
Elysium | No |
RED 2 | No |
White House Down | No |
The Smurfs 2 | No |
Turbo | No |
Grown Ups 2 | No |
Gravity | Yes |
Captain Phillips | No |
Thor: The Dark World | Yes |
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa | No |
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire | No |
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues | No |
Total #1 movies | 34 |
Available on Netflix AU | 5 |
% available | 14.71% |
2012 | On Netflix AU? |
---|---|
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked | No |
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows | No |
The Descendants | No |
Underworld: Awakening | No |
Chronicle | No |
The Vow | No |
Contraband | No |
Project X | No |
John Carter | No |
21 Jump Street | No |
The Hunger Games | No |
American Pie: Reunion | No |
Battleship | No |
The Avengers | No |
The Dictator | No |
Men in Black 3 | No |
Prometheus | No |
Snow White and the Huntsman | No |
Ice Age 4: Continental Drift | No |
Ted | No |
The Dark Knight Rises | Yes |
The Bourne Legacy | No |
Total Recall | No |
The Expendables 2 | No |
Kath & Kimderella | No |
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted | No |
Taken 2 | No |
Paranormal Activity 4 | No |
Argo | Yes |
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 | No |
Skyfall | No |
Total #1 movies | 31 |
Available on Netflix AU | 2 |
% available | 6.45% |
2011 | On Netflix AU? |
---|---|
Meet the Parents: Little Fockers | No |
Tangled | Yes |
Yogi Bear | Yes |
The Green Hornet | No |
Black Swan | No |
No Strings Attached | Yes |
Unknown | Yes |
I Am Number Four | No |
Hall Pass | Yes |
Rango | No |
Battle: Los Angeles | No |
Red Riding Hood | No |
Just Go with It | No |
Rio | No |
Fast Five | No |
Water for Elephants | No |
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides | No |
The Hangover Part II | Yes |
Bridesmaids | No |
Cars 2 | No |
Transformers: Dark of the Moon | No |
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 | No |
Captain America: The First Avenger | No |
Rise of the Planet of the Apes | No |
Friends with Benefits | No |
Horrible Bosses | Yes |
Zookeeper | No |
The Smurfs | No |
Real Steel | No |
Paranormal Activity 3 | No |
In Time | No |
Moneyball | No |
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 | No |
Puss in Boots | Yes |
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | No |
Total #1 movies | 35 |
Available on Netflix AU | 8 |
% available | 22.86% |
2010 | On Netflix AU? |
---|---|
Avatar | No |
Valentine’s Day | No |
The Blind Side | Yes |
Alice in Wonderland | Yes |
How to Train Your Dragon | No |
Clash of the Titans | No |
Hot Tub Time Machine | No |
Iron Man 2 | No |
Robin Hood | No |
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | Yes |
Sex and the City 2 | No |
Shrek Forever After | Yes |
Toy Story 3 | No |
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse | No |
Knight and Day | No |
Inception | Yes |
Salt | No |
Tomorrow, When the War Began | No |
Despicable Me | No |
Eat Pray Love | No |
Paranormal Activity 2 | Yes |
The Social Network | No |
Jackass 3D | Yes |
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 | No |
Megamind | No |
Tron: Legacy | Yes |
Total #1 movies | 26 |
Available on Netflix AU | 8 |
% available | 30.77% |
Comments
30 responses to “These Are The Most Popular Movies Netflix Australia Is Missing”
How many of those are on Netflix US though? Last time I checked it was missing most of the IMDb Top 250
I use these settings https://netflixaustralia.watch/usa-american-netflix-proxy-australia-watch-vpn-dns-proxy/ to switch to whichever Netflix region I want.
I agree, pretty pointless without a comparison to availability on US Netflix. That being said, I’ve watched a fair few of the movies listed as not available on Netflix Oz already on my Netflix US account.
Why does it have to compare to Netflix US?
For people who are considering a subscription to Netflix AU, and never used Netflix US, this is a very useful resource.
I agree, Netflix AU as a stand alone business does not appear to be offering very much.
It would be good to know when they keep telling us how easy it is to get access to the US account via the AU subscription.
What I would much prefer though is a comparison between Netflix, Stan and Presto to see which of the 3 new streaming services has a better range
I have also been wondering the same thing. So i created a spreadsheet that everyone could update and add what they found out.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uNULszVQgyiHERkPRHz4PvEAFbBFiuMM8kcILvVw3VQ/edit#gid=545746202
Good work. I also did some formatting on it to make it be more clear.
Thank for fixing some formatting. It will always be a work in progress.
I’ve put together some comparisons that are easy to search on, for all 3 of those plus Quickflix:
http://compareozstreaming.com/tv-shows/
http://compareozstreaming.com/movies/
http://compareozstreaming.com/what-movies-from-the-imdb250-are-available/
I’m not 100% sure the lists of movies for Stan and Presto are correct, I sourced them off another website and have seen some different counts floating around.
Indeed. Plus, it’s the price of a big mac meal. That’s it. A big mac meal.
I’m not surprised people are already pointing out what’s not there. There’s just no pleasing some people. It will improve over time.
Also remember that Foxtel probably has exclusive rights to alot of new movies and tv shows.
Just thought I would leave this here;
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html
Looks pretty dodgy when Wolf Creek 2 (an Australia movie) isn’t available in Netflix AU haha
Can you guys do a post on what Australia has that the US doesn’t?
finder did this:
http://www.finder.com.au/netflix-australia-vs-netflix-us-tv-shows?utm_content=buffer2bb5e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Thanks, but apparently there’s stuff that Australia has that the US doesn’t. I was wondering what the Australian-only content was.
I haven’t found a list, but apparently US doesn’t have The Raid 2 (got this from an American user in the Netflix sub).
How many of these are available via Stan or Presto?
This is what I am interested in as well @anguskidman
From what I’ve seen, Foxtel/Presto has the rights for the Marvel films. Not sure about anything else
there is also an update on finder about this too. Dont want to cross promote too much.
@jasonj here it is – http://www.finder.com.au/movies-internet-tv
there’s one on tv shows as well (Stan / Presto only)
I console myself in the knowledge that at least The Hangover Part III is available.
Only The Hangover Part II and II, not the original of course!
well i was excited to see Netflix coming here but there really isn’t a lot of content. this isn’t really the fault of Netflix its the face that our local networks have a stranglehold on the rights to everything which is sad.
A number of those are on Stan. All the Twilight movies, The Lego Movie, Wolf on Wall Street, Wolf Creek 2, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Zookeeper etc.
Try Netflix Canada. They have a better lineup than the US, most of the time.
Can you expand the table to show which of these movies are being offered by Presto and Stan?
Can you also compare the top 100 movies for each genre across all three streaming services for the last 50 years? That way we work out whether we need to waste time with a free trial or not.
wat
Agree! there was a movie series i wanted to watch, but the movie is only in the Netlfix US >:(
I’ve signed up to Netflix as a trial for 1 month. Does anyone else have it and do they know whether during the trial period users don’t have full access to all movies on the site. I tried to find Mad Max, Star Wars, Olympus has Fallen and Battleship on there but it only says ‘titles related to’ for these movies. Will this change once I get charged for the first month?
Hi, as a person from Australia, majority of the movies on this list are now on Netflix Australia.