Scarlett Johansson’s $469M Sci-Fi Thriller Is Officially A Netflix Streaming Sensation After Becoming Massive Sleeper Hit

Johansson is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, appearing in several box office hits over the years. A large part of that comes from her beloved run as Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, in some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s best movies. However, among Johansson’s most exciting films, there are both franchise projects and standalone features, showing her abilities and range as a lead.

When it comes to genres, sci-fi has been a good one for the actress. Recently, Johansson starred in the continuation of the Jurassic Park franchise, playing Zora Bennett, Jurassic World Rebirth‘s main action hero. 2013’s Her, another of Johansson’s sci-fi movies, ended up being nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture. However, it is 2014 that has now resurged.

At the time of writing, Lucy is currently the 9th most-watched movie on Netflix in the United States. This makes the Scarlett Johansson sci-fi movie an instant streaming success on the platform, given that it arrived on Netflix on April 1, soaring to the streamer’s nationwide charts a day after and maintaining that position. Lucy leaves behind Bohemian Rhapsody at #10.

Based on a reported budget of around $40 million, Lucy went on to become one of Johansson’s biggest box office hits. The reason for that is simple, as the film made 11x its budget during its theatrical run. Lucy needed to land in the $80 million to $100 million range to break even. When all was said and done, the film soared to 458.8 million.

Despite its excellent box office performance worldwide, Lucy ended up dividing moviegoers and critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the 2014 sci-fi thriller holds a respectable 67% critics’ score. However, Lucy has a negative 47% audience score after over one hundred thousand reviews from viewers. On IMDB, the Scarlett Johansson movie stands at a 6.4 score.

This is not the first time Lucy has found streaming success in 2026. Back in January, the Scarlett Johansson sci-fi movie rose to become the 4th most-watched movie on HBO Max worldwide, not just in the United States, as is the case now with its Netflix success. This shows that despite what reviews might say, Lucy continues to attract audiences years later.

Given how the sci-fi sleeper has only made its way to Netflix nationwide a couple of days ago, Lucy should continue to climb the streamer’s charts heading into the weekend. Recently, Reacher star Alan Ritchson’s sci-fi thriller War Machine was Netflix’s most-watched movie worldwide. That shows the genre’s strength at the streamer, which should help explain Lucy‘s strong performance 12 years later.