‘The Marvels’ Debuts at Number One Streaming, But…
On February 7th, The Marvels debuted on Disney+.
We now have the streaming ratings for that week, and we know how well the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film performed.
The Marvels debuted at number one on streaming, but…
‘The Marvels’ Wins the Movie Chart


Image: Marvel
According to the Nielsen streaming ratings for the week of February 5th through February 11th, The Marvels emerged on top.
In the Movies category, The Marvels claimed 558 million viewer minutes, which was good enough for first place.
The good news ends right there. Overall, this performance wasn’t in line with what Marvel and Disney would have hoped.


Photo: Marvel
For comparison, during the first streaming week of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, that title managed 1.62 billion viewer minutes.
Even Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania surpassed The Marvels, as the third Ant-Man film garnered 766 million viewer minutes.
In short, The Marvels managed only 73 percent of Quantumania and 34 percent of the third Guardians movie.


Image: Marvel
The Marvels itself doesn’t take the full blame for this underperformance.
This data reinforces the notion that either superhero fatigue is a thing, the MCU is slipping, or both.
Once we acknowledge that truth, we then face another harsh reality.


Image: Marvel
Some fans, including me, had hoped that The Marvels may discover new life once the film debuted on Disney+.
Yes, that absolutely could still happen, but it’s hard to if nobody is watching in the first place.
For a film to gain positive referrals and buzz as a hidden gem, people have to watch it first.


Image: Marvel
The Marvels’ total of 558 million viewer minutes would have only been good enough for fourth place (!) the week Quantumania debuted on streaming.
If anything, The Marvels has caught a break here because this week’s competition in the Movies category was anything but fierce.


Image: Marvel
On the bright side, the slower week allowed Elemental to earn yet another spot in the Movies top ten with 217 million viewer minutes.
Disney’s Other Streaming Hits


Photo: Disney
Several other programs on Disney+ and Hulu earned spots in their various top ten lists.
Let’s start with the Originals chart, where Percy Jackson and the Olympians hung in there for one more week.
The Disney+ series has ended its first season, but many fans binge-watched to catch up.


The Oracle of Delphi in the Percy Jackson film.
Some probably rewatched to uncover new hints for the surprising betrayal toward the end.
Still, the Percy Jackson series fell from 575 million viewer minutes last time to 227 million minutes during the current ratings week.
Based on this data, we’ve probably seen the last of Percy Jackson on the highly competitive Originals chart until season two arrives.


Photo: Also Disney
Don’t worry, though! We already know that Shogun is crushing the ratings! I’ll discuss that situation more in the next section.
On the Acquired Chart, This Is Us on Hulu has already fallen to tenth place, although it still managed a solid 543 million viewer minutes.
The Acquired Chart is undoubtedly the most challenging and competitive list, which brings us to Bluey.


Photo: Hulu
Once again, that adorable Australian pup attracted more than one billion viewer minutes.
For the week in question, Bluey gained 1.14 billion viewer minutes, which is incredible.
Finally, a joint Hulu/Netflix film called This Is Italy also finished at number five on the Movies chart with 323 million viewer minutes.


Alfie concentrates on figuring out the second word while Dad and the onlookers eagerly watch.
Liam Neeson stars in the film, and it’s directed by James D’Arcy aka Edwin Jarvis in Agent Carter.
Also, let’s be realistic that if this film were exclusively on Hulu, it wouldn’t approach the top ten.


Photo: Disney+
This performance is entirely about the Netflix algorithm telling people what to watch.
When Bob Iger says Disney needs better technology like Netflix, this is the kind of thing he means.
Disney’s Upcoming Nielsen Struggles


Photo: Disney+
When Disney executives program Disney+ and Hulu, they face a precarious balancing act.
Disney has recently reduced content due to financial constraints and the impact of the 2023 Hollywood strikes.
Ordinarily, Disney would air multiple new episodes of content and films, ones good enough to earn a spot in the top ten.


Photo: Hulu
Such titles are essential as they often prevent subscribers from canceling the service.
The streaming industry experiences something called churn.
This term reflects subscribers’ cancellations once they have watched everything that appeals to them on a service.


Photo: Lucasfilm
In February 2024, Disney+ lacked new content after Percy Jackson’s season ended.
At a minimum, Disney will face a one- or two-week gap until Star Wars: The Bad Batch debuts on the Nielsen charts.
Should that series fail to chart, Disney must wait another week until Shogun’s debut. We know from the data that it WILL chart.


Photo: IMDB
Still, that’s the challenge of running a streaming service. Series like Shogun often cost tens of millions of dollars per episode.
However, when a streaming service lacks such content, churn occurs.
As an example, Max has lost 3.2 million subscribers over the past year due to a weak slate of original content.


Photo: Marvel
The problem for Disney+ is that Shogun streams on Hulu.
The Bad Batch and X-Men ’97 won’t appeal to some audiences since they’re adult cartoons, even though that’s a thriving market.
So, you can understand from all the issues why Disney paid $75 million to Taylor Swift for streaming rights to The Eras Tour.


Photo: Taylor Swift
That concert will cause millions of fans to overlook the current content shortfall on Disney+.
Also, along those lines, Poor Things is now available on Hulu as another way of turbocharging Disney streaming.


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