Despite only spanning two movies and a spinoff TV series, The Croods franchise (starring Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone and Nicolas Cage, among others) has endured an interesting existence to say the least. Things started off in hugely promising fashion when the animated hit went on to score over $587 million at the box office after being released in March 2013, before landing an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature the next year.
A second installment entered development just one month following The Croods hitting the big screen, but despite adding new members to the cast, the project was abruptly canceled altogether in November 2016. In the interim, Dawn of the Croods premiered on Netflix, and would run for four seasons and 52 episodes before ending in July 2017.
After that, almost out of nowhere, The Croods: A New Age was back on the table, but when the follow-up was finally completed, it found itself in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. The dysfunctional family may have returned when business was at a historic low, but it still managed to wind up as one of the rare pandemic-era hits thanks to earning over $150 million globally on a $65 million budget.
If that wasn’t enough, A New Age returned to the top of the domestic charts last weekend in its twelfth week of release, made even more impressive by the fact it had been available on digital and VOD since mid-December. And coinciding with the sequel’s sudden resurgence in popularity, The Croods has now found itself creeping up the Netflix Top 10 most-watched list.
This is far from the first time the movie has troubled the charts, of course, and at the moment, The Croods is currently the eighth most popular feature-length title in the United States, proving that nothing can keep the titular clan down for the count.