Pompeii climbs Netflix chart amid Roman Empire meme

❘ Published: 2023-10-03T11:08:34

Sony Pictures

Kit Harington’s Pompeii, a movie based on the historic volcanic eruption, has climbed the Netflix top 10 chart, thanks in no small part to the widespread Roman Empire meme.

To the fellas out there: in recent weeks, has your significant other asked you how often you think about the Roman Empire?

Your answer may have been somewhere between “all the time” or “once every so often”, but the salient, unifying truth is this: men appear to think about it way more than anyone else.

While beginning on Instagram last year, it’s exploded on TikTok over the past two months. Who knows why men ponder the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, but a rather timely movie has just arrived on Netflix and capitalized on the trend: Pompeii.

Pompeii hits Netflix chart amid Roman Empire trend

Pompeii, starring Kit Harington, is currently in fifth position on the Netflix top 10 movies chart in the US. You can see the full chart as it stands below:

Reptile
Nowhere
Identity Thief
Force of Nature
Love is in the Air
Pompeii
Last Vegas
Spy Kids: Armageddon
Forgotten Love
The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The eruption – which took place in 79 AD, devastating Roman cities and towns and killing thousands of people – is ultimately at the center of the film, but it mostly follows Harrington’s Milo, a slave-turned-gladiator who races against the onrush of lava, rocks, and ash to save his true love.

It has a 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes – however, for the Roman Empire devotees out there, it was praised upon release for its attention to detail and the authenticity of the eruption itself.

It also opens with a horrifying quote from Pliny the Younger, one of two surviving eyewitnesses in the wake of the event, which reads: “You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying. Many besought the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left, and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness for evermore.”

Some people may just be in the mood for an exciting disaster movie, but the trend is definitely playing a role in its success on streaming. “I asked my boyfriend tonight how often he thinks of the Roman Empire… he said ‘oh, often! All the time!’ And then proceeded to talk about it for 20 minutes, and then he turned on the movie Pompeii. I’m dead,” one user wrote.

Pompeii is available to stream on Netflix now. You can read our breakdown of the Roman Empire meme here, and check out our other upcoming movie & TV hubs below: