The Ides of March were marked this year by a three-way race among high profile filmmakers – Peter Farrelly, Doug Liman and Guy Ritchie – with original streaming film and TV series debuts across Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. But the sleeper success story of the week belonged to Netflix’s Lindsay Lohan rom com movie “Irish Wish.”
Ritchie made a splashy debut on March 7 with Netflix’s “The Gentlemen,” an eight-episode TV heist drama delivered in the director’s signature style. In its second week, “Gentlemen” had solid hold with a modest 30% decline to 1.3 billion minutes watched during the March 15-21 frame, according to original streaming content ratings calculated by Luminate.
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Liman’s “Road House” redux with Jake Gyllenhaal grabbed attention in its March 21 debut on Prime Video. In its first day in release, the title amassed a respectable 121.5 million minutes watched, per Luminate. “Road House” generated headlines earlier this month when Liman vowed to boycott the film’s March 8 premiere at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas to protest the lack of a theatrical release for his Amazon Studios-produced remake of the 1989 Tom Cruise starrer. (Liman ultimately changed his mind and did attend.)
By comparison, Netflix’s highly anticipated new drama series “3 Body Problem” generated 62.6 million minutes watched across eight episodes in its first day of release on March 21. Apple TV+’s “Palm Royale,” starring Kristen Wiig, Ricky Martin and Josh Lucas, bowed at No. 36 after two days in release with 63 million minutes viewed across 10 episodes since March 20.
Meanwhile, Farrelly’s latest movie “Ricky Stanicky” saw a steep 56% drop off in week two with 239.5 million minutes watched. The buddy comedy starring Zac Efron, John Cena and William H. Macy was released March 7 on Prime Video.
“Irish Wish” put Lohan in the verdant environs of the Emerald Isle for a wedding-centered romantic comedy directed by Janeen Damian. The 93-minute title, which dropped March 15, amassed 698.8 million minutes watched in its first week in release.
Looking beyond the top 10 in original movies, titles with triple-digit increases over the previous week include Paramount+’s “Little Wing,” with a 258% increase to 22.1 million minutes watched; Netflix’s “A Jazzman’s Blues,” from director Tyler Perry, with a 378% gain to 21.9 million; Netflix rom-com “A Tourist’s Guide to Love,” 124% gain to 18.3 million; and Netflix’s family action-adventure drama “True Spirit,” which soared to 249% to 17.1 million, per Luminate.
In the TV series heat, the impressive performer of the week was Peacock’s “Apples Never Fall” limited series starring Annette Bening and Sam Neill. The series hit the No. 5 slot for the week of March 15-21 with 300.9 million minutes viewed, up 1,947% from its performance on March 14, its first day of release.
Netflix’s Spanish-language drama series “Bandidos,” released March 13, was another big mover. The comedy actioner gained 304.1% to 204.2 million minutes watched to land at No. 8 for the week. The Dick Wolf-produced docu-series “Homicide: New York” rounded out the week’s top 10 among streaming original TV series. The five-part Netflix series, which dropped March 20, amassed 183.3 million minutes watched after two days in release.
Looking beyond the TV series top 10, the first season of the much-praised comedy series “Girls5eva” jumped up to No. 13 as the series relocated to Netflix from Peacock in tandem with its Season 3 debut on March 14. With the move to Netflix’s more widely trafficked platform, Season 1 of the series that debuted in 2021 on Peacock saw a 968% week-to-week gain to 116.6 million minutes watched. Season 1 and Season 2 of “Girls5eva” are also still available on Peacock, which also helped boost the numbers.
Disclosure: PvNew and Luminate share a common owner in Penske Media Corp.
(Pictured top: “The Gentlemen”)
