Netflix's most expensive film, The Gray Man, loses top spot to unexpected new movie

Netflix's most expensive movie ever produced – The Gray Man – has unexpectedly been dethroned by Purple Hearts, a new low-budget rom-com.

As first spotted by IndieWire, The Gray Man spent eight days at the top of Netflix's rankings, however, has now dropped to the second spot with Purple Hearts surprisingly taking the top position. Directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum, the movie tells the story of a musician marrying a Marine so that the latter can help solve her medical bills. Shortly afterwards, the pair begin to develop feelings for one another. 

It seems that on this occasion singer Sofia Carson has taken out two of Hollywood's titans in Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling. Even worse for Netflix is the question of whether the streaming platform just wasted $200 million on the project. Things didn't look great early on with critics slating the movie but its longevity with audiences is now up for debate.  

At the time of writing, Purple Hearts remains at the number one spot on Netflix's rankings. Check out the trailer below:

The Gray Man accumulated 88 million viewing hours globally in its first weekend of release. In comparison, Red Notice starring Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot and Dwayne Johnson racked up 148 million in that same time back in 2021, so it hasn't exactly set the world on fire. Still, Netflix must be reasonably happy considering that a sequel and spinoff movie has been given the green light. Hey, I thought it was enjoyable if not mindless. 

Netflix recently came under fire following rumours that it was retroactively editing Stranger Things like Star Wars, however, this was proven not true with a TikTok video blamed for starting speculation. 

Purple Hearts stars Sofia Carson, Nicholas Galitzine, Chosen Jacobs, John Harlan Kim, Kat Cunning, Linden Ashby, Anthony Ippolito, Sarah Rich, Scott Deckert and Loren Escandon. 

Looking for something to watch? Check out the best Netflix movies of 2022 so far – including an indie thriller with Jesse Plemons, Jason Segal and Lily Collins.