The theater business may largely be at a standstill as we say our last words to 2020 in less than two months, but this year overall has been a great one for streaming services. The most recent major hit came via Amazon Prime spending a pretty penny on Borat 2, or as the fictional Kazakh documentarian calls it, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. It's one of the most watched films of the year, but it's still not quite as another young, scrappy and hungry immigrant tale: Hamilton.
Hamilton debuted on Disney+ ahead of Independence Day weekend after five years of buzz surrounding the Broadway gem and Pulitzer Prize-winner. As the year soon draws to a close, it remains the utmost popular streaming movie in the U.S, per a survey by ScreenEngine/ASI (obtained by Variety). Check out the top ten most-watched VOD movies of 2020 right now:
1. Hamilton2. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm3. My Spy4. Extraction5. Phineas & Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe6. Mulan7. The Old Guard8. The Trial of the Chicago 79. The Witches10. The Lovebirds
The data was collected via 1,200 U.S. viewers aged between 13 to 64 about the titles they’ve watched seven days after each streaming release. So this ranking doesn’t account for all the Hamilton fans who’ve surely taken part in multiple viewings of the Broadway masterpiece, and still, it’s No. 1. Although Borat 2 clearly did extremely well for itself, it didn’t quite crack the top spot. The movie does have an R-rating and a political bent standing in front of reaching some of its audience, but that viral Rudy Giuliani interview was free press on its own.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm follows the 2006 cinematic introduction to Sacha Baron Cohen’s hilarious character, which has clearly remained interesting to movie fans with a look at its location of 2020’s biggest streaming wins. Just following the Borat sequel is another exclusive Amazon Prime film, My Spy, a family adventure film starring Dave Bautista. We’re not surprised at all to see Extraction, the Russo Brothers-produced action film starring Chris Hemsworth, in the top five as well, but Phineas & Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe is an unlikely winner for Disney+.
Disney+ just celebrated its one year anniversary, and it can celebrate it on top with not one, but three huge streaming wins, also including the live-action Mulan, which was made available on Disney+ with an additional $30 price tag in exchange for the big-budget movie skipping theaters this year. But Netflix edges out Disney with four titles up on the top ten right now, including comic book film The Old Guard, Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 (also starring Sacha Baron Cohen) and The Lovebirds.
HBO Max, which is only six months old, did catch a major win recently with The Witches. There’s still a number of movies heading to streaming as the holiday and award season have kicked off. Which immigrant story has your heart in 2020, Borat or Hamilton? Vote in our poll below.
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