While the pandemic has slowed Marvel’s release schedule, the MCU remains a cinematic juggernaut with legions of fans desperate to find out what their favorite heroes do next. And nothing proves this more than the fact that the newest Marvel streaming release is currently topping the streaming charts.
According to Nielsen, Marvel’s Black Widow was the most-streamed movie in America between October 4th and October 10th, with people streaming 676 million minutes of the blockbuster. This is 231 million more minutes than the film in the second position, showing just how successful Black Widow is.
But it isn’t only topping the movie charts as this 676 million minutes figure means that Black Widow has been streamed more than Seinfeld (590 million minutes). Popular childrens’ program Cocomelon (626 million minutes) and even popular sitcom Ted Lasso (507 million minutes).
Black Widow is the 24th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was directed by Cate Shortland and written by Eric Pearson, and it sees Scarlett Johansson reprise her role as Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. When she finds that her ex-handler, General Dreykov is still alive, Natasha must confront her past. Things get worse when the evil Taskmaster sets his sights on her, forcing Natasha to run for her life. However, she soon learns that the forces that created her have been working on a secret plan.
The film had a slightly confusing release history as it was delayed several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While it was meant to come out in 2020, it was pushed back until 2021, and when it finally came out in July, it had a simultaneous release in both theaters and on Disney Plus.
However, the Disney Plus release was via the Premier Access service, where subscribers had to pay an additional fee to watch the movie. This release was dramatically controversial with both the public and the industry at large. This also led to Scarlett Johansson launching a lawsuit against Disney, arguing that the simultaneous streaming release went against the contract she had signed before the movie’s creation. However, despite this, the film was the ninth highest-grossing film of 2021 so far.
The film left Premier Access on October 6th, which is likely why it dominated these figures as everyone who wanted to watch the movie without paying the extra fee could finally dive into the film. Especially as the plot of Black Widow will tie in with the story of the highly-anticipated Hawkeye TV series that is launching later this month.
It isn’t surprising to see Black Widow dominating streaming charts. While it had a weird release history, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is still a popular franchise that people want to keep up with. So, whenever a new movie hits streaming, we can expect it to top the charts.