It seems likely that part of The Old Guard’s success has come from the lack of theatrical competition.
It seems unlikely that anybody was quite expecting The Old Guard to do as well as it has.
That doesn’t change how good the movie actually is, but it may have helped more people see it and come to that conclusion faster.
While “Charlize Theron kicking ass” is something that any rational human would want to see, and it is technically a “comic book movie” which is the most popular film genre in the universe, the movie certainly had potential to be popular “for Netflix” but this one really feels like it’s even bigger than that.