Netflix’s original movie Thunder Force, the comedy starring Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer, debuted at No. 1 on Nielsen’s U.S. streaming ratings chart for the week of April 5. Almost 1 billion minutes were streamed of the pic, pacing it well ahead of No. 2-ranked The Falcon and the Winter Soldier from Disney+, which dropped Episode 4 and grew by 100 million minutes week over week.
Also notable during the April 5-April 11 period was the debut of Amazon’s horror anthology Them, which dropped all 10 episodes on the streaming site at once (bucking Amazon’s usual trend) and finished No. 7 overall on Nielsen’s rankings. Its 439 million minutes viewed was good for No. 2 among streamers’ originals for the week, second only to Falcon and its 748M minutes. Pacing Them‘s surge were African American households, which accounted for nearly 60% of the views.
Netflix said earlier this month that Thunder Force, a superhero comedy and the latest McCarthy-Ben Falcone team-up, was on pace to draw 52 million global views in its first 28 days. By comparison, Extraction leads Netflix’s all-time first-month list with 99 million views, while Murder Mystery (73 million) is the top comedy.
Still, Thunder Force was the best streaming start for an original movie since Coming 2 America boasted 1.4 billion minutes for its debut week March 1-7. That gave Amazon Prime its first No. 1 finish in the weekly rankings.
Last week, Netflix’s The Irregulars edged Falcon and the Winter Soldier in the rankings, finishing No. 1 with its 643 million minutes. Despite that, the streamer canceled the series — about a gang of troubled street teens in Victorian London manipulated into solving crimes for the sinister Doctor Watson and his mysterious business partner Sherlock Holmes — earlier this week.
Below is Nielsen’s full top 10 for the week of April 5-11, which reflects viewing through a TV screen, meaning mobile is not counted.
Thunder Force (Netflix) – 1 episode, 950 million minutes of viewing
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+) – 4 eps, 748M minutes
NCIS (Netflix) – 353 eps, 701M minutes
Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix)- 369 eps, 627M minutes
Criminal Minds (Netflix) – 301 eps, 567M minutes
Cocomelon (Netflix) – 7 eps, 475M minutes
Them (Amazon) – 10 eps, 439M minutes
Schitt’s Creek (Netflix) – 80 eps, 430M minutes
The Serpent (Netflix) – 8 eps, 406M minutes
Heartland (Netflix) – 166 eps, 405M minutes