While the sequel lands at No. 1, its 1993 predecessor was the second most streamed film of the past weekend.
It may already be time for Disney to pencil in “Hocus Pocus 3” on its production calendar. And based on how “How Pocus 2” fared in its first weekend for Disney+, there probably won’t be a 29-year gap between the movies.
“Hocus Pocus 2,” a sequel to the 1993 comedy-fantasy classic, was the most-streamed movie in the US last weekend, according to Whip Media’s Movie Ranker — according to data from TV Time, a television and movie app. Which tracks the interest of the audience. 22 million of the global registered users.
Subscribe to read more.
And not only did the flick — in which Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimi reprise their roles from the first film — topped Whip Media’s rankings, it helped push “Hocus Pocus” to second place for the weekend. helped too.
The 10 Most-Watched Movies on Streaming, Sept 30-Oct. 2, 2022, US (Whip Media)
It’s worth noting that it’s a trend—remakes and sequels that bring old movies into franchises to a second life on streaming—that has become more common in recent years. This was evident last summer, when “Top Gun” spent weeks in Whip Media’s Top 10 at the pace of “Top Gun: Maverick,” and the first “Jurassic Park” also did remarkably well for HBO Max. June release of “Jurassic World Dominion”.
But back to “Cheat 2.” Earlier this week, Disney announced that the film had the biggest domestic debut ever for an original film on Disney+, based on the number of hours streamed in its first three days. And its performance on Whip Media’s weekly ranker certainly corroborates that claim.
Still, it might surprise you how it stacks up against other notable original movie releases to debut on streaming this year. Incredibly well, it turns out. In fact, “Hocus Pocus 2” was the most-watched streaming original film of 2022, according to new audience figures from Whip Media.
10 Most-Watched Original Movies on Streaming, 2022, US (Whip Media)
Compared to the US performances of other big releases, including Netflix’s “The Gray Man” and Hulu’s “Prey,” “Hocus Pocus 2” had the most views in the first three days of release.
Interestingly, the only Disney+ movie to make the list is “Hocus Pocus 2”. It surpassed “The Adam Project” on Netflix—one of six Netflix films to make the top 10. “Luck” on Apple TV+ and “Moonshot” on HBO Max were also the only reps for their respective services.
The big opening for “Hocus Pocus 2” makes the words of Vincea Shaw, who starred as Max’s crush Allison in the original film, look prophetic. In a recent interview with TheWrap, Shaw said she wasn’t worried about the sequel, as the original film rocked opening weekend in ’93:
“There’s really no panic for me because, you know, everybody loves the original, and they love these characters,” Shaw said. “So they’re ready to watch them over and over again, and again, and again! If it’s not the original, they’ll watch the sequel, and they go back to the original.”
It turns out, it looks like a lot of viewers have watched the sequel. And Original this past week.
Sean Burch is a Marketing Insights Analyst at WrapPro Partner Whip Media. Click here for more from Whip Media.
