‘Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio’ Debuts At No. 2 On Netflix Global Top 10, ‘Scrooge’ Jumps To 4th
Netflix has back-to-back animated feature hits on its hands. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio has debuted at number two on the platform’s weekly global Top 10 list for English-language features and Stephen Donnelly’s Scrooge: A Christmas Carol jumped to fourth in its second week.
Despite the film only launching on December 9, viewers tuned in for 28.08 million hours of Pinocchio over the week of December 5-11. That’s less than 1 million hours behind first-place film Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which was on the platform for all seven days of the recording period.
Pinocchio’s 28 million hours is the second-best three-day opening for a Netflix original animated film this year. Chris William’s The Sea Beast, which landed on the platform on July 8, got 33.5 million viewer hours over its first three days.
It might not be a surprise that a stop-motion adaptation of a classic IP made by one of the biggest names in Hollywood has done so well, but it certainly bodes well for Netflix’s original animation division. The company has struggled occasionally in the past to get audiences to tune in to some of its animated features, and this year was no exception with films from Henry Selick (Wendell & Wild) and Nora Twomey (My Father’s Dragon) unable to crack the weekly global Top 10, despite those films garnering strong critical responses.
At the time, many blamed Netflix’s lack of marketing of those films for their struggles. However, both Selick and Twomey’s films benefited from stronger marketing and festival promotional pushes than did Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, which continues to impress and even improved its numbers during its second week on the platform.
After it was released last weekend, Scrooge became Netflix’s first animated feature to crack the Top 10 since The Sea Beast last summer. Scrooge generated 8.17 million viewer hours over its first weekend and jumped to 13.05 million hours this week on the platform.
Pinocchio still has a long journey ahead if it hopes to top The Sea Beast, which holds the title of most-watched Netflix original animated feature, with 165 million viewer hours in its first 28 days. But with families gathering over the holidays and looking for something to watch, Pinocchio’s viewing hours could continue to impress.
