Jerry Seinfeld’s Bee Movie has soared into Netflix’s Top 3 films, despite its 49% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Released in 2007, Bee Movie is an animated comedy co-written by Seinfeld and produced by DreamWorks Animation. The movie follows anthropomorphic honey bee Barry B. Benson (voiced by Seinfeld himself) as he tries to sue the human race for exploiting bees for honey. While the film is far from DreamWorks best animated movie, Bee Movie’s surreal premise and strange subplot involving a relationship between Barry and the human florist Vanessa (Renée Zellweger) has earned Seinfeld’s animated movie a dedicated cult following.
Now, according to Netflix, Bee Movie is currently rising the ranks among the Top 10 Global Movies, sitting at number 3 for the second week running, with 4.8 million views. Bee Movie’s position means the animated movie sits above classics from large IPs like Wrath of the тιтans, Now You See Me 2, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (which has been in the Top 10 for six weeks), as well as newer films like 2024’s The Wild Robot. This is surprising considering Bee Movie is now 18 years old and there’s been no additional Bee Movie content.
Our Take On Bee Movie’s Streaming Success
Seinfeld’s Misguided Movie Is Unintentionally Hilarious
Considering Bee Movie was released nearly two decades ago, its position in Netflix’s Top 3 films is quite an impressive feat. Jerry Seinfeld’s wife, Jessica Seinfeld, weighed in on the animated movie’s current popularity on Instagram, stating that “We couldn’t figure out why Bee Movie was #2 trending movie on Netflix. It came out in 2007!” That being said, despite being available on other streaming sites, Bee Movie has only just been released on Netflix, sparking many fans to revisit the film. Jessica Seinfeld added that, “Perhaps we will see a whole next generation of Barry Bee Benson fans.”
|
Movie |
Budget |
Box Office |
RT Scores |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bee Movie (2007) |
$150 million |
$293.5 million |
49% Tomatometer, 53% Popcornmeter |
Bee Movie was somewhat of a box office success, earning $293.5 million on a $150 million production budget. However, critics gave the film mixed reviews, praising its cast and humor, yet disliking its strange premise. The somewhat Sєxual tone between Barry the Bee and Vanessa was a major point of contention for many over the years, and was part of the reason why Bee Movie gained a cult following in making fun of the weird premise. Jerry Seinfeld even apologized for Bee Movie’s misguided relationship during a 2024 commencement speech, stating, “I may not have calibrated that perfectly.”
Bee Movie’s inherently silly plot and surrealism has only become even more humorous with time
However, it is because of the strange plot that Bee Movie has become so well-remembered. Although it has bad ratings on Rotten Tomatoes – Bee Movie has a 49% Tomatometer and 53% Popcornmeter – the film is still quite popular and well-loved, and that is mostly due to the slew of Internet memes that were even bigger than the movie itself. Bee Movie’s inherently silly plot and surrealism has only become even more humorous with time, as fans consider the film nostalgically hilarious. Therefore, Bee Movie’s rising popularity on Netflix demonstrates a real love for the “bad” film despite its failings.
Sources: Tudum, Instagram
