Pixar’s latest animated feature Soul received a heavenly reaction from critics and fans when it premiered on Disney+ on December 25, and has set a new record for Nielsen’s weekly U.S. streaming rankings. The Pete Docter and Kemp Powers-directed pic about finding your life’s purpose finished at No. 1 for the week of Dec. 21-27 with 1.669 billion minutes streamed — beating The Office (1.435B min.) in its final week at Netflix (now on Peacock).
Disney+ also marked its first week with two offerings in the Top 10 with The Mandalorian at No. 5 (~1B min.); the hit Star Wars show wrapped its second season last month.
Soul had originally been slated for a theatrical release but moved onto the streamer due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The highly anticipated title was included in the lineup available to subscribers, taking a different tack to the launch of Disney’s live-action Mulan, which was offered over Disney+ for an additional rental fee.
Nielsen’s Top 10 for the week also included new Shondaland series Bridgerton (Netflix, 1.2B min., #3), George Clooney sci-fi adaptation The Midnight Sky (Netflix, 1.1B min., #4) and The Christmas Chronicles 2 (Netflix, 660M min., #9), as well as returning/rewatchable series The Crown (Netflix, 700M min., #7), Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix, 691M min., #8) and Criminal Minds (Netflix, 648M min., #10) and Jim Carrey’s live-action take on How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Netflix, 705M min., #6).
So far, Nielsen only covers Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Disney+ in its rankings, but is expected to start tracking Peacock and HBO Max soon.
[Source: Deadline]
