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'The Old Guard' breaks records to reach 72M views, becomes 1st film by Black female director in Netflix Top 10

The film has rapidly risen towards 72 million views in its first week alone, and might have a sequel as well

In two weeks since its opening, 'The Old Guard' has fast risen to become one of Netflix's most popular films ever, fast approaching views 72 million households across the world. The film has made it into Netflix's Top 10 list, as released yesterday, and features the first Black female director — Gina Prince-Bythewood — to ever make it onto Netflix's top 10.

Gina Prince-Bythewood also happens to be the first Black female director to ever direct a live-action property based on a graphic novel, joining the ranks of other female directors such as Patty Jenkins ('Wonder Woman'), Cathy Yan ('Birds of Prey') and Anna Boden ('Captain Marvel'). Netflix celebrated the record-breaking film earlier today, tweeting out, "THE OLD GUARD is breaking records! The Charlize Theron blockbuster is already among the top 10 most popular Netflix films ever — and Gina Prince-Bythewood is the first Black female director on the list. The film is currently on track to reach 72M households in its first 4 weeks!"

The movie, which stars Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Harry Melling, is based on a comic book by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez. It centers around a group of immortal beings who work in the shadows to try and make the world a better place, and who are targeted by a large pharmaceutical company that seeks the secrets to their immortality.

NetflixFilm's tweet also links to an interview with Gina Prince-Bythewood at NetflixQueue.com — and she's already teasing a sequel. "Greg Rucka's graphic novel... it’s a trilogy," she says. "The second one came out a couple of weeks ago, so I know where the story is going, which is pretty great. It’s up to the audience if they’re interested to see more. There’s certainly more story to tell."

'The Old Guard' currently ranks 6th on Netflix's top 10 list, but with its viewership numbers continuing to grow after its recent release, it may not be long before it climbs further up along that list. Its biggest competition is 'Extraction,' which ranks number 1 at 99 million views. Other films on the list include 'The Irishman,' 'Bird Box' and '6 Underground.'

'The Old Guard' is available to stream on Netflix.