35 Best Thriller Movies on Netflix

Published on May 9, 2023 at 5:04 pm by Ramish Cheema in Business, Lists, News

In this piece, we will take a look at the 35 best thriller movies on Netflix. For more thriller movies, head on over to 10 Best Thriller Movies on Netflix.

The coronavirus pandemic dealt a devastating blow to a wide variety of industries. Sectors such as tourism, hospitality, and cruising all were sapped out of economic activity, since lockdowns and stay at home orders prevented people from engaging in the usual leisure activities. Another sector that was devastated was the film industry. Theaters and cinemas all over the world were shut down due to fears of the virus spreading. According to a report from The Motion Pictures Association (MPA), the Global Theatrical and Home Entertainment market was comfortably growing from 2016 to 2019. The sector had stood at $77.8 billion in 2016, grew to $83.7 billion the next year, and then went on to further grow to $92 billion in 2018 and $98.3 billion in 2019. In its final year of growth, the three sectors of the market, namely Physical, Digital, and Theatrical, had stood at $8.8 billion, $47.2 billion, and $42.3 billion, respectively. However, the very next year, the worst of the coronavirus would dawn on the sector, as it would go on to drop by 18% to $80.8 billion. However, this figure marked an internal shakeup within the industry, as while the Theatrical segment was nearly slaughtered to $12 billion, the Digital segment boomed to $61.8 billion.

Zooming in on America, the country continued to be the largest geographical sector in the market, as its share was worth $32.2 billion. Within this segment, a whopping 82% was accounted for by the Digital segment, with Physical and Theatrical accounting for a mere 11% and 7%, respectively. In 2020, two of the top three movies were family films, as Frozen II and Jumanji: The Next Level took the top two spots. Courtesy of the virus, the online media industry maintained its boom from 2016, and went on to grow from 88.6 billion views in 2016 to a whopping 265.9 billion by the end of 2020. Surprisingly (or perhaps not), online television shows accounted for 92% of the total views. Compare this to the 78.9 billion views that online television shows brought in in 2016 and the difference that the pandemic made becomes clear.

Researchers from StrategyR show that the global box office industry was estimated to be worth $28.5 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow by a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.9% by the end of 2030 when it is expected to be worth $92.6 billion. StrategyR believes that within this market, the Action and Adventure subsegment will outpace the broader market in terms of growth, as its growth rate is expected to sit at 18% to make this section worth $49 billion in 2030. Geographically speaking, China is the fastest growing region, with a growth rate of 20.8%.

Another report, this time from Gower Street, estimates that the global box office market can grow to $29 billion by the end of this year if it maintains a 12% growth rate, which will still be slower than the 21% growth rate achieved last year. At the same time, Gower Street points out that even if the global box market does grow to $29 billion, it will still be significantly less than the $42.3 billion that it was worth in 2019. The research firm also shares that the U.S. will continue to be the largest market in 2023, with an estimated value of $7.65 billion.

The online content delivery market has risen to become of the dominant players in the industry, particularly since it was fueled by the coronavirus. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global video on demand market was worth $69.55 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to $82.77 billion in 2022. From then until 2029, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.6% and sit at $257 billion by the end of the forecast period. This growth has made the market quite competitive as well, with Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) sharing a glimpse of the competition in its investor letter for the fourth quarter of 2022:

We continue to operate in a highly competitive market as consumers have a vast number of entertainment choices. Beyond our direct streaming competitors, we also vie for consumers’ time against linear TV, YouTube, short form entertainment like TikTok, and gaming, to name just a few. The silver lining is that the market for entertainment is huge and Netflix is still very small by comparison. For example, in the more than 190 countries we operate in, our $30B+ of annual revenue compares against the combined annual estimated ~$300B pay TV/streaming industry, $180B branded TV advertising spend and $130 billion consumer spend on gaming .5

It’s not easy to build a large and profitable streaming business. But we’re competing from a position of strength, as we lead the industry in terms of engagement, revenue and streaming profit. As a pure-play streaming company, we’re also not anchored to shrinking legacy business models, like traditional entertainment firms, allowing us to lean hard into the big growth opportunity ahead of us.

With these details in mind, let’s take a look at some top thriller movies on Netflix.