Netflix’s New Steven Spielberg-Like Alien Movie Flies Up The Streaming Charts

After making first contact on Netflix, the streamer’s new Steven Spielberg-esque alien movie has become a streaming hit. The legendary filmmaker released his own alien film earlier this year with Disclosure Day, starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, and Colin Firth. He has a long history of making stories involving life from another planet, including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, War of the Worlds, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Out of all these films, E.T. is the one that is most reminiscent of Netflix’s new movie, Allen. The story revolves around Petey (T.J. Power), whose childhood best friend was an alien named Allen. Petey has struggled considerably to move on with his life and clung to childhood nostalgia in the 20 years since the extraterrestrial’s sudden departure. When the alien returns to Earth two decades later, Petey is overjoyed, but the reunion is complicated by a shocking secret.

Allen Is Steadily Climbing Netflix’s Streaming Charts

Following its Netflix premiere on November 12, Allen is now the number six movie in the United States and number eight worldwide. It has been gradually getting more viewership, starting at number nine on the U.S. chart before moving up to seventh and now sixth place, along with now debuting on the global chart. The only movies ahead of it in the U.S. are The Gospel of Christmas, Heartland, Reminders of Him, Never Surrender, and The Christmas Switch, and it is ahead of Carolina Caroline, Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story, A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, and The Croods.

Globally, Allen is behind Never Surrender, The Christmas Switch, Heartland, The Good Lawyer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Me Before You, and is outperforming Daayra and The One. The new movie is produced by Ludo, the production company known for making Bluey. Along with Allen and Petey, other key characters include Petey’s brother, Jaden (Josh Helman), his sister-in-law, Carly (Charlotte Nicdao), his longtime friend, Sarah (Emily Barclay), who is also a police officer, and Sarah’s fiancé and colleague, Rory (Benedict Hardie).

Steven Spielberg’s E.T. Is Only One Of Allen’s Pop Culture Inspirations

Image via Netflix

The early scenes of young Petey (Edward A. O’Sullivan), Carly (Caitlin Niemotko), and Jaden (Tom Broadmore) discovering Allen and growing close to him are clearly inspired by E.T., while the rest of the movie feels almost like an E.T. sequel that was never made, in which the alien returns to Earth 20 years later and reunites with the adult versions of Elliot (Henry Thomas), Michael (Robert MacNaughton), and Gertie (Drew Barrymore).

While speaking with What’s on Netflix, Allen director and writer Daley Pearson explained that the movie is inspired by various works of art, of which E.T. is only one of, that have become mythical in their own right, particularly those about forcing someone out of the innocence of childhood early. Check out his comments below:

E.T. is a myth now, or Free Willy, all those films. To me, it’s as much Free Willy as it is Billy Joel, as it is Predator, as it is a Michael Jackson song. There was something exciting about using the colors of that, and we’re getting wankier by the second, to tell a story about letting go of the things that you can’t let go of.”​​​​

Allen has no shortage of recognizable influences, but is also very much its own original story, and starts a new era for Ludo, as this is the first live-action feature film from the production company behind the many episodes of Bluey.

Release Date

November 12, 2026

Runtime

105 minutes

Director

Jeffrey Walker, Daley Pearson