Patrick Hughes’ action sci-fi War Machine was the most watched film on Netflix worldwide for the first half of 2026, with the streamer unveiling its latest engagement report today.

The Victoria-shot film generated 146.9 million views on the service since its debut on March 6, with 266.8 million hours viewed.

While backed by Lionsgate and Netflix out of the US, the title is the debut project of Australian production company Huge Film, founded by Hughes, James Beaufort and Greg McLean in 2022. It qualified for the Producer Offset.

Alan Ritchson leads the cast, starring alongside Dennis Quaid, Stephan James and Esai Morales, as well as Aussies Jai Courtney, Blake Richardson, Keiynan Lonsdale and Daniel Webber.

Netflix reports some 97 billion viewing hours across its catalogue from January to June this year, the highest to date across a six month period. Non-English titles now represent more than a third of all viewing on Netflix, with titles from South Korea, Japan and Spain among the most-watched.

Behind War Machine in the overall film rankings were The Rip (136.1 million views), Swapped (130.8 million), KPop Demon Hunters (130.4 million views), the NSW-shot Apex (129 million views) and Victoria-shot Thrash (100 million views).

The most watched series on Netflix for the first half the year was His & Hers (104 million views), followed by the Yerin Ha-fronted Bridgerton season 4 (100.4 million views), I Will Find You (63.9 million views) and Stranger Things season 5 (55.6 million views).

The most watched Aussie series was The Amazing Digital Circus season 1, with 10.4 million views. Produced by Sydney animation studio Glitch Productions, the show originated on YouTube, but has also screened on Netflix since 2024 under a licensing deal.

Fremantle Australia/NewBe’s Heartbreak High season three was the most watched Netflix ANZ Original, with 6.9 million views since its premiere on March 25. The first and second seasons of the show also ranked highly among Australian titles, attracting 3.1 million and 2.8 million views respectively.

Gristmill’s The InBESTigators, co-ordered by Netflix and the ABC back in 2019, continues to endure with kids, pulling 3.8 million views for its first season and 3.4 million views for its second.

It’s a similar story for fellow children’s series Gymnastics Academy: A Second Chance season 1, which first premiered on the service in 2022, drawing 3.7 million views across the six months.

Other popular local shows included The Survivors (3.1 million views), 2011 kids classic H20: Just Add Water season 1 (2.5 million views) and Playing Gracie Darling (2.2 million views).

In terms of leading local films, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga attracted some 6.6 million views, followed by Interceptor (6.1 million views), You, Always (4.7 million views), A Second Chance: Rivals! (2.6 million views), Bring Her Back (2.4 million views) and True Spirit (2.1 million views).

Netflix has published its engagement report, dubbed What We Watched, twice a year since 2023 but flagged today it will move to an annual report from Q1 2027.