Netflix's All-Time Non-English Champion Is Still a Norwegian Monster Movie

Four years after it stomped onto the platform, Troll still rules. Netflix's official all-time rankings for September 2026 confirm that the 2022 Norwegian monster movie remains the most-watched non-English-language film in the streamer's history — and it isn't particularly close.

The numbers are staggering: 103 million views and 178.6 million hours watched in its first 91 days. That puts it ahead of Under Paris (102.3 million views), its nearest challenger, and cements a record that has now survived multiple years of would-be usurpers from every corner of the globe.

Why Troll Endures

On paper, Troll shouldn't be a record-holder. It's a big, straightforward creature feature in the classic tradition — an ancient mountain troll awakens in modern Norway, and a ragtag team of experts must stop it before it reaches Oslo. No stars recognizable to global audiences, no franchise pedigree, no awards-season campaign.

What it had was execution. Director Roar Uthaug — who previously helmed the Tomb Raider reboot — delivered a monster movie with genuine scale, a creature design rooted in Norwegian folklore, and the kind of earnest disaster-movie sincerity that plays in every language. The troll itself, brought to life with impressive effects work, feels like a genuine folk horror creation rather than a generic CGI beast.

The film also benefited from perfect timing. Released in December 2022, it became appointment viewing for holiday-season audiences looking for big, undemanding spectacle — the streaming equivalent of a summer blockbuster.

The Non-English Power Shift

Troll's record is part of a larger story: the era when English-language content automatically dominated global streaming is over. From Korean dramas to Spanish heist shows to Norwegian monster movies, Netflix's biggest hits increasingly come from outside Hollywood — and audiences have shown they'll read subtitles for spectacle worth watching.

Challengers will keep coming. But 103 million views is a mountain of its own, and for now, the troll still sits on top of it.

Troll's longevity is also a quiet triumph for Scandinavian genre filmmaking, which has spent decades punching above its weight. Uthaug grounded the spectacle in genuine Norwegian folklore — the troll of the film feels like something out of a storybook rather than a Hollywood effects reel — and that cultural specificity is arguably why it traveled so well. Audiences can sense when a monster movie believes in its own mythology.

For now, the crown stays in Norway. Every new global hit gets measured against that 103-million-view mountain, and so far, none have cleared it. The troll isn't just a movie record — it's a reminder that the next phenomenon can come from anywhere.