Why Matt Damon's $416 Million Spy Thriller Has Become A Netflix Streaming Hit

Published Oct 5, 2026, 2:20 PM EDT

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."

As Odysseus, Damon led the fantasy epic, which was helmed by one of the best directors of all time, Christopher Nolan, to box office records. The Odyssey stands as the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, dethroning the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Deadpool & Wolverine, which starred Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. Damon's The Odyssey is currently at a $1.7 billion total.

Before The Odyssey was released, Damon co-starred with Ben Affleck in one of Netflix's biggest movies of 2026, the action thriller The Rip. Damon is also tied to another Affleck vehicle that will soon be released on the streaming service, Animals, the star-studded crime thriller Affleck stars in and Damon produces, which will be released on Netflix on Friday, October 9.

Before Animals arrives, Damon is currently experiencing streaming success on Netflix through another thriller, but it is not a new release. The movie in question is 2016's Jason Bourne, the spy thriller from Damon's iconic Bourne movie franchise. As the film rises on streaming, its success draws one big question, and there are a few elements that answer it.

Matt Damon's Jason Bourne Franchise Is Now On Netflix But 1 Movie Reigns Supreme

As is the case for all streaming services, the start of every month is a transition period for Netflix's catalog of movies and TV shows. As a result, many new movies arrived on Netflix at the start of October, including all five films in Damon's Bourne spy thriller franchise being released on Netflix on October 1. That said, despite the fact that the entire Bourne franchise is now available on the streaming service, including Jeremy Renner's The Bourne Legacy, only one if its five entries has become a hit nationwide. 2016's Jason Bourne is Netflix's 10th most-watched movie in the United States at the time of writing.

Jason Bourne has been trending on Netflix for three days, as shown by data from FlixPatrol. The spy thriller movie is part of a list that includes movies like the Chris Evans rom-com What's Your Number?, Russell Crowe's new Netflix Original thriller Unabomber, the comedy The Breadwinner, the new Netflix smash hit drama Doing Life, and more. From the moment that Jason Bourne entered the coveted Top 10 Netflix Moves list in the US on October 2, no other movie in Damon's hit spy thriller franchise has been able to share in its success on Netflix's nationwide chart. Jason Bourne peaked at 8th.

Why 2016's Jason Bourne Is The Spy Thriller Franchise's Movie To Trend On Netflix

Out of all the five movies in the Jason Bourne franchise, I would not say that the 2016 film is the best entry. For instance, the finale to the original Bourne trilogy, 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum, stands at a near-perfect 92% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes with a slightly lower 91% audience score. 2016's Jason Bourne does not come close to that universal acclaim, sitting at a mixed 55% critics' score and a matching audience score on RT. That said, there is no denying that Damon's latest Bourne movie was a box office hit, grossing $416.2 million on a reported budget of $120 million.

Viewers showed up in theaters for it, and they are now doing the same on Netflix. While not the franchise's best entry, there is still a lot to enjoy in the spy thriller. Jason Bourne brought back Damon as the franchise's star after a detour with Renner, also featuring talented actors like Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel, Riz Ahmed, and more. The Bourne movie also featured the franchise's signature high-octane action sequences and its suspenseful tone. Additionally, it is the latest entry in the movie franchise, which likely plays a role in why Jason Bourne is the franchise's Netflix hit.