You prove 45 million people viewed Bird Box?

As pointed out, it doesn’t necessarily mean all those accounts wound up finishing

A Netflix representative clarified that the service only counted views that had surpassed 70 per cent of the total run time, including credits. Each account was only counted once.

It is worth wondering whether such statistics can influence the film-maker’s career, given that they can’t be backed up.

As film editor Rebecca Keegan asked on Twitter, will this data help

director Susanne Bier book future projects? Will traditional studios trust and value it?

In some cases, but certainly not all, a question about the film’s merit seems to underlie the scepticism: Why was

which received lukewarm reviews, the Netflix film to break such a record? We’ll leave the quality assessment up to you, but we do have some theories as to what may have attracted viewers.

First, the premise: It’s been a solid few years for horror films, and the idea of invisible creatures causing unpredictable behaviour seems promising.

Second, everyone loves to root for Bullock, who plays Malorie, a cynical pregnant woman who evolves into a fierce mother and must, among other things, navigate a turbulent river while blindfolded.

The title comes from the box of birds she and her young children bring onto their boat. (The animals can sense when the evil creatures are close.)

Third, a hodgepodge of talented actors fill out the cast: John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, Tom Hollander, Lil Rel Howery, BD Wong, Danielle Macdonald, Jacki Weaver and Trevante Rhodes.

Or maybe it was all the jokes and memes filling the internet – they are good publicity, after all.