13 Minutes: Peter Facinelli’s 108-Minute Disaster Thriller Finds a New Audience on Netflix
A 2021 tornado thriller that made little impact at the box office is getting a very different reception on Netflix. 13 Minutes, starring Twilight veteran Peter Facinelli, has climbed into the streaming service’s global Top 10 after attracting more than 3.4 million views in a single week.
Netflix’s latest weekly figures, covering August 24 through August 30, place 13 Minutes at No. 7 among the platform’s most-watched English-language movies worldwide. The film recorded 3.4 million views and more than 6.1 million hours watched, putting it ahead of several better-known titles and just behind 72 Hours.
That renewed interest comes years after the movie’s brief theatrical run, during which it earned only about $67,000 at the box office.
A Small Oklahoma Town Has Just 13 Minutes to Survive
Directed and written by Lindsay Gossling, 13 Minutes takes place in Minninnewah, a fictional small town in Oklahoma. The 108-minute film centers on four families whose lives collide when an enormous tornado tears through their community.
The storm leaves residents with only a short window to reach safety before the tornado arrives. Once the devastation is over, the families are forced to deal with the destruction around them while confronting the differences that had already divided the community.
Religion, sexuality and other social issues become part of the story as the characters try to rebuild both their homes and their relationships. The disaster therefore serves as the film’s central crisis, while the struggles between the families provide much of its human drama.
The ensemble cast includes Peter Facinelli, Trace Adkins, Thora Birch, Anne Heche, Amy Smart and Paz Vega. Facinelli plays Brad, while Adkins portrays Rick, Birch plays Jess, Heche plays Tammy, Smart appears as Kim and Vega portrays Ana.
The movie was released theatrically on October 29, 2021, in a limited run. Its reported worldwide box office total was $67,413.
Critics Were Divided on 13 Minutes
The film received a mixed response from critics, although audiences were considerably more receptive.
The original article cited a 27% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes compared with a 57% audience score. Rotten Tomatoes currently lists the film at 24% from critics and 57% from audiences, reflecting the same broad split between professional reviews and viewer reaction.
Much of the discussion around 13 Minutes has focused on its decision to spend significant time with its characters and their personal conflicts rather than treating the tornado purely as a spectacle. The film uses the disaster to bring several storylines together, with its characters forced to reassess long-standing divisions once their community is devastated.
That character-driven approach has produced differing reactions. Some viewers have responded positively to the emotional and social elements woven into the disaster story, while the critical response has generally been less enthusiastic.
13 Minutes Joins a Crowded Netflix Top 10
The film’s No. 7 position places it among a varied group of movies that dominated Netflix viewing during the August 24-30 period.
Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look led the global chart with 31.1 million views. The Whisper Man, Netflix’s new movie starring Adam Scott and Robert De Niro, followed with 23.2 million views.
Further down the list were The Last House, with 5.8 million views, Don’t Say Good Luck with 4.4 million, The Heat with 4.1 million and 72 Hours with 3.7 million. 13 Minutes followed with 3.4 million views.
Interestingly, 13 Minutes was not the only disaster movie to crack the week’s global Top 10. 2012, Roland Emmerich’s 2009 apocalyptic blockbuster, landed at No. 10 with 2.7 million views.
While 13 Minutes focuses on a tornado destroying a small Oklahoma community, 2012 takes the disaster concept to an entirely different scale, depicting a catastrophic threat to the entire world. The film stars John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor and draws on the 2012 phenomenon surrounding predictions that the world would come to an end.
The contrast between the two films also highlights the unusual streaming resurgence of 13 Minutes. A relatively obscure disaster movie that struggled during its theatrical release has now found itself competing for attention alongside major Netflix releases and a much larger-scale disaster blockbuster.
13 Minutes is currently available to stream on Netflix.