Netflix sequel to the movie Christmas Chronicles 2 opens at No. 2 on Nielsen’s American Streaming Charts on Thanksgiving Sunday as a prestigious streaming service drama Crown held in the first place.
Crown repeated at the top of the chart with more than 2.2 billion total viewing minutes from November 23-30. The Nielsen chart, which works with a long delay, only measures viewing in the US via a TV screen. (See the full top 10 below.)
In Chronicles 2, which attracted a powerful 1.5 billion minutes of streaming, Kurt Russell reprized his role as Santa Claus, and Goldie Hawn returned as Mrs. Claus. Chris Columbus, known for hits like Home alone, directed. Although he didn’t finish in first place, the screening of the film was unusually strong.
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Series, given their scope, are by definition more watched than feature films on streaming platforms, but films can be effective drivers of interest and awareness. The first Christmas Chronicles more than 20 million subscriber households streamed in the first week of the 2018 release, Netflix said at the time, while co-CEO Ted Sarandos compared the onion to the $ 200 million box office.
As Deadline reported, Netflix and Cinemark have agreed on a test release Christmas Chronicles 2, putting it on screen No. 3 of the exhibitor for a week before his streaming debut on November 25th. So far, no cash register data or other test results have been released, in line with the pattern for even the broadest editions of Netflix.
Virgin River, another Netflix original, allowed the diva to stream its third entry this week, with 1.3 billion minutes of viewing.
On Thanksgiving, especially with this year’s Covid-19 shutdowns and travel restrictions, a rush of overall streaming activity was recorded. For the first time since Nielsen began releasing its weekly flow meter last summer, all six of the top titles on Nielsen’s list have exceeded a billion minutes of viewing.
Hillbilly Elegy had a muted holiday week, with 787 million minutes of viewing. Adapted by Ron Howard and directed by Ron Howard, Amy Adams and Glenn Close star in an adaptation of JD Vance’s unnamed bestseller. The streaming started on Netflix on November 24, the day before Christmas Chronicles 2, but still managed about half a minute of streaming the sequel to Santa Claus. Critics were not kind, with the film rating 39% on Metacritic and only 27% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Disney’s Star Wars spinoff series Mandalorian he retained 4th place and was the only non-Netflix title in the Top 10. Unlike Netflix, Disney + mostly releases one episode each, so a total of 13 episodes of the show until the finale were available during Thanksgiving week and its buzz season 2 a few more weeks.
Here’s Nielsen’s full weekly rankings, with episodes available for the series and rounded minute viewing:
Crown – 40 eps., 2.2B min
The Christmas Chronicles 2 – film, 1.5B min.
Virgin River – 20 eps., 1.3B min.
Mandalorian – 13 eps., 1.2B min
The Office – 192 eps., 1.1B min.
The Queen’s Gambit – 7 eps, 1.1B min.
Hillbilly Elegy – film, 787M min.
Grey’s Anatomy – 363 eps., 750M min.
Criminal Minds – 277 eps., 713M min.
Schitt’s Creek – 80 eps., 697M min.