$1 Billion High Fantasy Movie On Netflix Deserves Its Global Streaming Success

Published Nov 7, 2026, 11:50 AM EST

Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

There is a major high fantasy movie trending on Netflix internationally, outside the United States, and it is not only easy to understand why it has become a global streaming hit, but the film also deserves all the streaming success it is experiencing. The fantasy genre has grown exponentially in recent years, and streaming has played a key role in that.

After all, with the bigger budgets and focus on crafting immersive worlds for fantasy movies and TV shows on varied streaming services, the genre has perfected itself. There have been many noteworthy fantasy releases in recent years, including projects like Prime Video's The Legend of Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein, HBO's House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and many more.

Netflix's slate of movies has played with the genre through original releases like the animated hit Swapped. In terms of TV shows, the streamer is also the home of Henry Cavill's The Witcher in live-action, and the fan-favorite Netflix Original series Arcane in the animated department. That said, licensed fantasy releases have also found success on Netflix.

The latest of those to become a global streaming hit on Netflix comes from one of the biggest movie franchises of all time, as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey started a spin-off trilogy of the acclaimed Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings franchise. The high fantasy movie is not available on Netflix in the United States, where it is streaming on HBO Max, but it deserves its newfound international streaming success.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Is Trending On Netflix Worldwide At The Perfect Time

At the time of writing, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the 10th most-watched movie on Netflix worldwide, according to data from FlixPatrol. The coveted chart is currently led by Collision Course, a new Netflix Spanish thriller, with other trending movies including Final Destination Bloodlines, Me Before You, and more. According to FlixPatrol, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is trending on Netflix in 19 countries, including nations like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, and many more. That said, the only country where Warner Bros.' first The Hobbit movie is currently ranked #1 is Israel, though that could change soon.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey's global streaming hit status on Netflix is easy to understand, as not only is it a fan-favorite high fantasy movie from a major franchise, boasting a high 83% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes based on over 250,000 ratings, but it is also a timely release. After all, the franchise will continue soon with another release, as The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3 debuts on Prime Video on November 11. Additionally, Warner is bringing back the high fantasy franchise to the big screen, as The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum arrives in theaters on December 17, 2027.

Why The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Is Worth Watching On Netflix Internationally

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ended its global box office run with a massive $1.017 billion total, and as mentioned before, the high fantasy movie was a hit with moviegoers. As such, for international Netflix subscribers pondering whether the film is worth a go, let yourself be immersed in what is the first chapter of a bold new adventure through Middle-earth, which is just as exciting as ever under the direction of franchise master Peter Jackson. For those who watched The Lord of the Rings movies, key characters like Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond, Saruman, Frodo, and more return with their original actors.

For those who have no knowledge of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey can still be enjoyed on Netflix internationally, as the high fantasy movie does a great job of setting up Martin Freeman's Bilbo Baggins and his somewhat simple journey, which turns perilous as the team he is a part of faces surprising encounters on the road. While the movie does have darker moments, it is decidedly lighter in tone than The Lord of the Rings movies, allowing fantasy fans to experience a different kind of top-notch genre adventure, making The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey worth watching.