‘Descendants’ Rocks the Streaming Charts
It’s good to be bad, at least on Disney+.
Nearly ten years after a global phenomenon began, Disney just attempted to relaunch the franchise with a new film.
Photo: Disney+
While some argued that the lack of recognizable characters made this reboot late and absent of key ingredients, fans didn’t care.
The Descendants just rocked the streaming charts with a solid debut. Here’s what happened.
Red Rises
You may have missed the fervor over The Descendants, as it was quick but intense.
That’s how Disney typically handles its various pre-teen and teen franchises.
Photo: Disney
The idea is that kids age out of the products after a few years. So, Disney must strike while the iron is hot.
In the case of Descendants, there was A LOT in a short period of time.
Photo: Disney
Specifically, Disney Channel released three different Descendants movies, all of which featured a core of four players.
They were portrayed by Sofia Carson, Dove Cameron, Booboo Stewart, and Cameron Boyce.
Photo: Also D23
In a tragic turn of events, Boyce died from epilepsy the month before the release of Descendants 3. He was only 20 years old.
To Disney’s credit, it tastefully paused the series afterward.
D23
However, while Descendants was running hot, Disney Channel aired a stylish animated series and released several books.
Brands like that rarely stay dead for long, especially at Disney.
Disney+
Last year, Disney made the somewhat controversial decision to start from scratch with a pair of new characters.
On July 12th, Red and Chloe Charming joined the world of the Descendants by starring in a new movie.
Photo: People
While some popular characters from past films make return appearances, Descendants: The Rise of Red is a standalone story.
Thus, nobody was quite sure how fans would react to the title, which still hasn’t debuted on Disney Channel yet as I type this.
Photo: Disney
The official release date is tonight, August 9th. However, I can already tell you that The Rise of Red is a huge hit.
Disney+ Streaming Hits
Photographer: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
I say this because Nielsen just released its streaming charts for the second week of July.
These charts cover the dates of July 8th through July 14th. Again, The Rise of Red didn’t debut until July 12th.
Photo: Disney
So, you’ll know it did exceedingly well when I tell you that the film earned 386 million viewer minutes in just three days.
That would have been 750-850 million viewer minutes in a full week.
Photo: Disney
After only three days, Descendants: The Rise of Red already had roughly 4.1 million viewings.
I’ll update the totals after next week’s ratings, but this total is almost on par with the 10.5 million viewers during Descendants’ first week.
Given that this production is a cheap reboot without the star power of Carson and Cameron, Disney has to be thrilled with this result.
This story is only beginning, as we’ve only got half a week of data. By next time, we’ll also have television ratings.
Photo: Disney Channel
Theoretically, that should boost the numbers, although the target audience for these things isn’t watching much linear television.
Notably, Disney+ had even more great streaming news this week.
Photo: Disney/Pixar
Inside Out claimed another 323 million viewer minutes.
According to Disney, people have rewatched it 100 million times (!!!) since the Inside Out 2 trailer was released.
Photo: The New York Post
So, we’ve got two excellent examples here of Disney reinvigorating its established brands through new content.
Disney’s Other Streaming Hits
Photo: Disney
Generally, this was a typical weekend overall for Disney’s streaming services.
The big story is probably The Bear, which predictably fell a bit in week three.
Photo: The Walt Disney Company
That’s what happens when the diehard fans have time to binge the entire new season. Demand slows after the first few days.
Still, The Bear garnered 781 million viewer minutes, which is exceptional for new content.
Photo: FX
By now, you’ve likely noticed the typical streaming behavior, which is that reruns generally perform the best.
That’s definitely true with Hulu, with the usual allotment of titles doing well.
IMDB
Grey’s Anatomy gained 957 million viewer minutes, while Family Guy was steady as usual with 850 million minutes.
Bob’s Burgers fell right behind Family Guy at 849 million minutes, reinforcing that Animayhem is a winning play for Hulu.
Photo: Hulu
Finally, Criminal Minds managed another 776 million viewer minutes.
As a reminder, Grey’s Anatomy and Criminal Minds stream on multiple services.
FOX
So, from Disney’s perspective, the performances of Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers are much more important.
You MUST subscribe to Hulu to watch those shows, which partially explains why Disney streaming has finally reached a breakeven point.
Photo: Disney
Of course, there’s one other factor you can guess, and it’s the title I haven’t mentioned yet.
Yes, Bluey was again Disney’s most popular show, with 1.08 billion viewer minutes.
The Walt Disney Company
That sweet pup is doing all the heavy lifting in making Disney streaming profitable.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!
