'Beverly Hills Cop' Sequel Wins the 'New 4th of July Box Office' -- Netflix Weekly Rankings for July 1-7

Film business pros doing the forensics on this past long Fourth of July holiday weekend might have come up with these learnings:

> David Spade was way off the mark in 1995 with that hurful "falling star" zinger on SNL aimed at Eddie Murphy. Spade wasn't wrong -- you do gotta break some eggs to make an omelet. But that star never fell. Twenty-nine years later -- and 40 years after the first Beverly Hills Cop movie debuted -- the surprisingly clever fourth iteration of Murphy's signature film franchise on Netflix proved once again he's one of the most talented, versatile and enduring comedic actors of his generation.

> The weekend and holiday "box office" now exists on a three-dimensional plane, with big-budget, big-star Netflix titles competing for engagement right alongside a spry Fourth of July theatrical frame that included Despicable Me 4 , Inside Out 2 , A Quiet Place: Day One and Bad Boys: Ride or Die .

Even on a global basis, none of those films came close to drawing 41 million viewers (and 80.7 million engagement hours) over the course of the weekend, which Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F did in its first five days on Netflix.

That performance made the Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films sequel the second most watched Netflix film title of 2024, trailing only the week 2, 50.8-million-view performance of Millie Bobbie Brown fantasy-action title Damsel back in mid-March.

In second place among domestic films on Netflix, Nicole Kidman-Zac Efron rom-com A Family Affair grew to an also-impressive 31.7 million views (and 60.6 million engagement hours) for the week of July 1-7, the movie's second week on the platform. Again, no new movie, save for Axel F, surpassed that level of viewership this past weekend.

Also read: Nicole Kidman/Zac Efron Rom-Com ‘A Family Affair’ Bores Critics, Titillates Audiences — Netflix Weekly Rankings for June 24-30

Last Fourth of July holiday weekend, Pierece Brosnan left family action-comedy The Out-Laws led Netflix viewing with only 19.6 million views.

Among TV series, the debut of London-based superhero drama Supacel captured a solid 61.2 million engagement hours and 11.8 million views across its six first-season episodes.