Russell Crowe's 100-minute True Crime Thriller Is Officially Netflix's Biggest Streaming Hit

Netflix

Another Netflix original has rocketed to the streamer's number one most-watched spot. Since debuting on Friday, September 25, 2026, director Janus Metz's newest film, "Unabomber," has overtaken all challengers and currently sits as the most-watched film on the service. The well-acted Netflix thriller bested the other entries in the top five, including Nate Bargatze-led family comedy "The Breadwinner," Tom Cruise's mega-hit sequel "Top Gun: Maverick," Henry Cavill's "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare," and Dave Bautista's "Knock at the Cabin."

"Unabomber" tells the story of the young Ted Kaczynski (Jacob Tremblay), a math whiz who participates in ethically questionable psychological experiments conducted by professor Henry Murray (Russell Crowe) and his partner, Christiana Morgan (Annabelle Wallis). Kaczynski is a disturbed teenager, and he eventually goes off the deep end to become the so-called "Unabomber" terrorist we know today. It's not surprising that the film performed well in its opening few days; history has shown that if Netflix makes an original movie or TV show about a real-life criminal, the odds are pretty good that project will end up somewhere in its top 10.

Netflix

Last December, we argued that 2025 was the year true crime entertainment went too far. Still, we weren't naive enough to assume that article could change the viewing habits of millions of Netflix subscribers, and so far this year, audiences have ravenously consumed everything from the disturbing doc "The Crash" to the chilling "The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare." Even now, the desire for true crime content continues unabated: "Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers," a documentary about convicted murderer Aileen Wuornos, is hanging out in the top 10 with "Unabomber."

Will Netflix viewers' true crime bloodlust ever be sated? Realistically, probably not. Despite there being very clear formulas to true crime docs (which are poked fun at in entertaining fashion in things like "American Vandal" and "Zodiac Killer Project"), it seems there are untold ways to mix and remix the structures and viewpoints of movies or shows about criminals. And hey, I'm not passing judgment — I can get sucked into a true crime story as easily as the next person. 

But in the same way I'm curious about how many more times Disney can make a live-action version of one of its original animated films since its already burned through its true classics, I'm starting to wonder how many more high-profile killers or criminals are out there who haven't yet already received the true crime treatment, whether at Netflix or another streamer. Here's a free movie idea: a serial killer is brought to justice, only for the investigators to discover that a streaming service was behind it the whole time to ensure that more documentaries could be made to feed its subscribers' habits. Tell me you wouldn't watch that!