A House of Dynamite Debuts on Netflix, Sparks Missile Defense Debate

Kathryn Bigelow’s new political thriller A House of Dynamite drew heavy streaming traffic and sparked debate about U.S. missile defenses after its late-October debut on Netflix. The film logged 22.1 million views in its first three days on the platform, making it the most-watched movie on the service for the relevant weekly charting period and narrowly outpacing The Perfect Neighbor, which drew about 20.2 million views in its second week.

The film, which received a limited theatrical release before streaming, stars Rebecca Ferguson and Idris Elba and follows the real-time response of multiple U.S. government teams to the launch of a single unattributed ballistic missile aimed at the United States. Its narrative shifts among military officers, intelligence officials, and the White House as leaders debate whether the incoming warhead is a dud and whether to authorize retaliation. Reviewers and viewers have been divided over the film’s structure and an ambiguous ending that stops short of depicting the missile’s impact.

A House of Dynamite also reignited a technical dispute over the effectiveness of current missile defense systems. The Pentagon issued a memo asserting that U.S....