The most-watched movie on Netflix in the United States last week, according to Netflix’s own website, was We Have a Ghost, the new horror comedy starring David Harbour and Anthony Mackie. The rest of the current domestic Top 10 list for the streaming service is a mixture of Netflix originals, like The Strays and You People, and licensed titles like 47 Meters Down: Uncaged and 2 Guns.
One licensed title on the list was especially surprising: Sing 2, the animated musical sequel about a bunch of singing animals. Not because the film wasn’t popular or anything like that; Sing 2 was quite successful in theaters, earning over $400 million worldwide and becoming 2021’s top-grossing animated feature.
But that’s why it’s surprising. The movie came out in theaters in 2021, and then it popped up on Netflix all the way back in June of 2022. And week after week, it has remained among the most-watched films on the service even as dozens of other things have come and gone. This week, it’s the 9th most-watched title on Netflix in the U.S. in its 26th week on the Netflix Top 10.
Now to be clear, that’s not 26 consecutive weeks; Sing 2 has dropped off the list here or there. When it invariably pops back up, Netflix adds another week to its total. And 26 total weeks is far longer than any other film has ever spent on the Netflix Top 10, at least as far back as Netflix’s published charts from the summer of 2021. Since then only one other film has appeared on the list more than 10 times — and that’s Despicable Me 2, which has spent a total of 13 weeks in the Netflix Top 10, and last appeared there in late October. (That was back when Sing 2 had only appeared on the list a measly 17 times.) In other words, Sing 2 is not only the record-holder here, it’s more than doubled the #2 film.
No other Netlfix movie — original or licensed — rates with those numbers, not even sizable hits like Glass Onion, which appeared on the list for seven weeks before dropping off back in early February. (The Gray Man, another star-studded Netflix blockbuster, vanished after six weeks back in August 2022.)
So what explains Sing 2’s remarkable staying power on Netflix? My guess is it comes down to demographics and viewing habits. While adult Netflix subscribers might watch the big new film on the service like Glass Onion or The Gray Man and then move on to the next thing that pops up, kids tend to find a movie they love and watch it over and over again. (Take it from me, the man who has seen the two Frozen films roughly 300 times on Disney+ with my daughters.) In fact, the only Netflix original I could find on all of these charts with nine total weeks was Vivo, another animated musical for families.
The only question is, how many weeks will Sing 2 stay on the list? Sing 2 is owned by Universal, so at a certain point, Netflix’s license to stream it could expire. And on that day, the parents of the world will likely breathe a heavy sigh of relief.
The Most Popular Films on Netflix in 2022
These are the most-watched English language films on Netflix in 2022.
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