It’s been 29 years since they first swept through Salem, but Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker have bewitched us all over again. In recent news from the industry standard Nielsen ratings, their sequel Hocus Pocus 2 has broken streaming records for a new movie in its debut weekend with 2.7 billion minutes views.
Minutes views…? Yep, that’s the measure Nielsen goes by for streaming titles, with records previously broken by fellow Disney hits Encanto and Frozen 2 (at 2.2 billion minutes and 2.17 billion minutes respectively). Part of this is due to the canny release Disney+ tried out over the spooky season, which (witch) you may have noticed if you’ve used the platform throughout October.
A long-awaited return to the world of then-box office flop and cult Halloween hit Hocus Pocus, the sequel arrived exclusively on Disney’s streaming service on the last day of September, giving fans a whole month to get into the scary spirit. That’s plenty of time to watch and re-watch once you and your coven are getting nearer to October 31.
Then there’s the fact that this movie was recommended to users no matter what they typed into the search bar. Seriously, I was looking for David Fincher’s most disturbing horrors and got recommended this kid-pleasing Halloween romp instead. We see what you’re doing, Disney.
Hocus Pocus 2 still rests beneath the almighty Netflix hit Dahmer on the Nielsen ratings, but maintains its supernatural strength for its opening week debut. Dahmer has 4,370 million minutes views for this past week: still far more than fantasy juggernauts The Rings of Power (966 minutes views) or House of the Dragon (907 minutes views). Strangely, the Netflix revenge movie Lou isn’t far away at 802 minutes views, despite generating so much less conversation and acclaim.
Naturally, the reason for the season made plenty of Disney+ users return to that old fave the original Hocus Pocus, too. Seventh on the week’s list at 774 million minutes views, it would seem the witches really are back from the dead.
