Forget the Newcomers: Netflix's 'Troll' Is Officially the Most-Watched Non-English Film Ever

Some movies arrive as events. Others arrive quietly and then refuse to leave. Troll, the 101-minute Norwegian creature feature that premiered on Netflix in December 2022, has now been crowned the most-watched non-English film in the streamer's history, racking up 178.6 million hours watched — a number that has it towering over everything that has come since.

The updated all-time rankings put Troll ahead of a formidable field: the French shark thriller Under Paris sits at 177.3 million hours, while the harrowing Society of the Snow drew 239.7 million hours but, being a longer film, fewer completed views. In Netflix's view-count rankings, Troll leads with roughly 103 million views — more than any other non-English movie on the service. Four years after its debut, the Norwegian blockbuster is still the one to beat.

What If Godzilla, but Viking?

The film's staying power is not hard to understand. Directed by Roar Uthaug — the filmmaker behind the Alicia Vikander Tomb Raider reboot and the Norwegian disaster hit The Wave — Troll is a classic creature feature with a distinctly Scandinavian twist. Deep beneath Dovre Mountain, an ancient troll wakes up after a millennium on ice, smashes its way out of the mountain, and makes a beeline for Oslo, leaving puzzled locals and terrified livestock in its wake.

The ragtag response team is one part scientists, one part soldiers, all led by Ine Marie Wilmann as the paleontologist Nora Tidemann, in a performance that deserved far more international attention. She is joined by Mads Sjøgård Pettersen, Anneke von der Lippe, Gard B. Eidsvold, Fridtjov Såheim and Dennis Storhøi — a stacked Norwegian ensemble, even if few of them were household names outside Scandinavia.

The Streaming Crown Nobody Predicted

What makes Troll's reign remarkable is that it was never supposed to be a phenomenon. It premiered with modest expectations, earned warm reviews from critics who appreciated its old-school monster-movie sincerity, and then simply kept finding new audiences — year after year, in country after country. It spent 15 weeks in Netflix's global top 10, including a two-week return to the chart in late 2025, and continues to surface in viewing data long after flashier titles have faded.

The success also rewrote the playbook for what a streaming blockbuster can look like. Troll did not need English dialogue, a $200-million budget or a franchise brand. It needed a giant monster, a clear premise and the confidence to play its own folklore straight. Four years on, every new international release on Netflix is still measured against the troll that woke up under Dovre Mountain — and so far, none of them have caught it.