This New Korean Sci-Fi Movie Is Breaking Viewership Records on Netflix

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Netflix’s new Korean science fiction film, The Great Flood, was a big hit this weekend and is generating a lot of buzz.

The movie debuted at number one and was watched for a total of 50.6 million hours in its first three days. This translates to roughly 27.9 million views, making it a huge success for an international launch.

Netflix is celebrating the film’s impressive start, calling it the biggest opening weekend for a foreign language film released on a Friday ever recorded. This means The Great Flood had the strongest debut of any international movie Netflix has ever released on a Friday, and it outperformed all previous Korean film releases on the platform.

The Great Flood (대홍수) is a South Korean sci-fi disaster movie directed and co-written by Kim Byung-woo. Starring Kim Da-mi and Park Hae-soo, the film combines a massive disaster scenario with thought-provoking science fiction themes, centering on the struggle to survive as humanity faces its potential end.

I was really excited to finally see this film after hearing about it! It actually had its first showing at the Busan International Film Festival – the 30th one, to be exact – back in September 2025. They screened it as a special premiere of new Korean cinema. Then, thankfully, it became available to everyone on Netflix on December 19th!

Anna, an AI researcher grieving the loss of her husband, faces a terrifying situation when her apartment building begins to flood. She desperately tries to escape with her young son, Jain, as the water levels rise through all thirty floors. Amidst the panic, she receives hopeful news: the United Nations is sending a helicopter to rescue them.

The story reveals that governments around the world had known for years about an asteroid headed for the North Pole, which would cause massive flooding. Rather than informing people, they chose to keep it secret and focus on top-secret projects designed to save a select group of humans.

Anna’s work with artificial intelligence is actually central to the story. The film becomes more suspenseful when it’s discovered that Jain isn’t a naturally born child, but an artificial creation stemming from Anna’s AI projects.

Okay, so I just saw “The Great Flood,” and let me tell you, it’s intense. It’s about a mom and her son who get completely stuck when a massive flood hits, and honestly, their fight to survive isn’t just about them – it could literally change everything for all of us. Seriously, go check it out now!

— Netflix (@netflix) December 20, 2025

Following a traumatic and upsetting experience where she had to abandon people to a terrible fate, Anna is sent to a space station designed as a last hope for humanity. However, the story implies that even reaching the station doesn’t ensure anyone’s survival.

Okay, so the critics are a little split on “The Great Flood,” with around 60% giving it a thumbs up according to Rotten Tomatoes. But honestly, the numbers on Netflix tell a different story. It seems audiences loved it – it really resonated with people globally, and the viewing figures exploded almost immediately. It’s one of those films that clearly connected with viewers in a way the critics didn’t quite grasp.

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2025-12-24 09:15