Netflix’s Summer Showdown: Squid Game, Wednesday, and the Rise of French Originals
While global giants dominate the headlines, French films and series are quietly becoming breakout hits on the platform.
Netflix’s Summer Showdown: Squid Game, Wednesday, and the Rise of French Originals
While global giants dominate the headlines, French films and series are quietly becoming breakout hits on the platform.
Traditionally, summer is a quiet period for broadcasters—but streaming platforms follow different rules. On Netflix, the past few weeks have been marked by record-breaking launches, including the third and final season of Squid Game and the long-awaited return of Wednesday. But while these flagship series draw most of the global attention, several French titles are generating serious traction, both in viewership and cultural buzz.
A Global Phenomenon Returns: Squid Game Season 3
Launched on June 27, the final season of Squid Game has already tallied over 865 million hours viewed in eight weeks. While that number doesn’t quite match the explosive debut of Season 2—487 million hours in just four days—it remains a towering achievement. Season 3’s initial three-day figure (368 million hours) still reflects the show’s global pull.
Tim Burton’s Wednesday: Back with a Bang
Following the runaway success of its first season in late 2022, Wednesday returned on August 6 with the first half of Season 2. Netflix’s decision to split the release appears to be strategic: it builds anticipation while stretching viewership numbers across months.
The results so far? 201 million hours watched in three days, with 50 million completions. Although the pace slowed slightly in the second week (117 million hours), the September 3 release of Part 2 could ignite a second wave of viewership—especially with students and young adults returning from vacation.
French Content Climbs the Charts
In the shadow of these titans, French productions have carved out their own impressive summer runs.
The feature film K.O., a tense drama produced by Empreinte Digitale (Federation Studios) and Yvette Production, premiered on June 6. It has since spent ten weeks in Netflix’s Top 10 for non-English-language films. As of August, K.O. has reached 52.1 million views, with 1.1 million hours watched—coming within reach of AKA, currently the tenth most-watched non-English film on Netflix.
Another standout is the crime thriller Soleil Noir (Black Sun), a series co-produced by Itinéraire Productions and UGC Fiction. It debuted with 28.3 million hours viewed and 5.8 million completions in its first week. Three weeks later, it had reached 66.4 million hours and 13.6 million views—strong numbers for a new French-language series, though it has since slipped out of the Top 10.
Not Just France: Spanish and European Series Surge
It's not just French originals drawing eyes this summer. The Spanish series Péchés inavouables (Unspoken Sins) garnered 14.8 million views in just three weeks, further proof that Netflix’s international strategy is paying off.
Looking Ahead
With Part 2 of Wednesday Season 2 arriving on September 3, and Netflix's fall lineup just around the corner, French content creators have every reason to be optimistic. As K.O., Soleil Noir, and others continue to build viewership organically, they highlight a new reality: you don’t need to be a global juggernaut to make waves on the world’s biggest streaming platform.