Greta Lee as Ann in The Last HouseImage: Courtesy of Netflix
Netflix’s decision to pivot away from mega-budget tentpoles and focus on mid-budget genre movies appears to be paying off. This shift in strategy truly took shape this year, following a streak of expensive misfires such as The Electric State, Red Notice, and The Gray Man. Two of those movies were directed by the Russo Brothers, by the way, and they cost a combined total of more than $500 million. But this year, Netflix has delivered a string of smaller-scale hits such as The Rip, Thrash, Apex, and War Machine; the latter emerged as one of the streamer’s biggest-ever success stories, with more than 150 million views. This streak appears to be continuing with Netflix’s latest hit, a sci-fi creature feature that shares many similarities with a new movie currently running in theaters.
Both films reportedly cost a similar amount and openly display their Spielbergian influences. The film playing in theaters is The End of Oak Street, in which a suburban family suddenly finds itself transported back to prehistoric times. Directed by David Robert Mitchell and produced by J.J. Abrams, the film stars Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, and has generated more than $50 million at the worldwide box office in four days of release, against a reported budget of $80 million. The Netflix movie revolves around a family that discovers they can’t leave their suburban home because creatures from the deep have taken over the Earth.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
Netflix’s New Hit Is Defying Poor Reviews
The movie we’re talking about is The Last House, directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Greta Lee and Wagner Moura. It defied poor reviews to claim the number-one spot on Netflix’s viewership charts during its first week, accumulating 27.5 million views. According to the streamer, the movie generated 33.5 million views in its second week, finishing at the top spot in 82 countries. The Last House is all but guaranteed to become Netflix’s second movie this year to break into the all-time top 10 list, with a total of more than 110 million hours watched in two weeks. It currently holds a 21% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “The Last House drags a capable cast through an increasingly repetitive narrative without delivering the suspense or thematic depth its premise demands.” Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
