Divisive Sopranos movie enters Netflix top 10 chart

❘ Published: 2023-10-05T11:46:11

Michael Gandolfini and Alessandro Nivola in The Many Saints of Newark

Warner Bros.

The Many Saints of Newark, a divisive prequel movie set decades before the events of The Sopranos, is proving to be a hit on Netflix after landing in the top 10 chart.

Just as the millennium was about to turn, David Chase and HBO kickstarted another golden age of television with The Sopranos. Running for six acclaimed seasons that changed industry attitudes to TV – if it isn’t art, then what is? – it’s still regarded as one of the greatest shows ever produced.

While the creator has never been interested in continuing the series – can you blame him, considering how many times he’s been asked about what happened after the cut to black? – he was keen on exploring the years before the show; more specifically, 1967 as a young, impressionable Tony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini, James’ son) becomes more interested in the mob.

While it was a box office bomb, the pandemic played a part, and its early streaming success defied the mixed reception and showed it to be a hit. Now, The Many Saints of Newark has become one of the week’s most-watched movies on Netflix’s chart.

The Many Saints of Newark, the Sopranos prequel movie, climbs Netflix chart

The Many Saints of Newark is currently ranked fifth on Netflix’s top 10 movies in the US, and you can see the full rundown of the chart below:

Reptile
Nowhere
Identity Thief
Last Vegas
The Many Saints of Newark
Dune
Force of Nature
Colombiana
Love Is in the Air
Pompeii

Set against the backdrop and fallout of the 1967 Newark race riots, the movie tracks Tony’s emergence in the New Jersey mob through the perspective of Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), his beloved uncle and a prominent “soldier” in the crew.

While the film has a 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, its audience score is less favorable, currently sitting at 59%. Many reviewers and fans praised Gandolfini’s performance, especially given the legacy surrounding his father’s legendary performance, as well as Nivola, but some felt it was ultimately shallow and that it wasn’t a satisfying addition to the show’s legacy.

For example, The Boston Globe wrote: “I was in a state after watching The Many Saints of Newark… was that all there was? The movie was slight, and directionless, and as flat as The Sopranos wasn’t. The movie was, to borrow an image from the ‘Pine Barrens’ episode, like sucking ketchup packets.”

The New Yorker’s review criticizes the film for reducing “characters of potentially mythic power to a handful of defining traits and pins them to a diorama-like backdrop of historical readymades.”

However, in a positive review, Vanity Fair wrote: “The Many Saints of Newark is full of this grim foreshadowing, a supplemental origin story to all the sprawl of The Sopranos. I’m not certain the film can really stand on its own when viewed by someone who’s never seen the series, but it’s not rote fan service, either. Chase, and director Alan Taylor, do actually have a purpose in mind beyond simply creating more Sopranos content.”

The Many Saints of Newark is streaming on Netflix now. Check out our other upcoming Netflix hubs below: