‘Dune’ Was The Most-Watched Movie On Streaming Last Week—But It Still Didn’t Beat ‘Shōgun’

The three-year-old “Dune” film on HBO’s Max was the most-viewed movie across any streaming platform last week as its sequel continues to sweep the global and domestic box office, but the surge in popularity for the sci-fi adaptation still wasn’t enough to overtake Hulu and FX’s new standout show “Shōgun,” which claimed the most viewers of any title across all platforms.

“Dune” originally released in 2021.

VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

Reelgood, an analytics company that monitors streaming viewership, on Monday said “Dune: Part One” on Max was the most-viewed movie on any streaming platform in the week of Feb. 29 to March 6, the same week “Dune: Part Two” hit theaters.

“Oppenheimer” on Peacock was the second most-streamed movie of the week, followed by “Past Lives” on Paramount+, “Spaceman” on Netflix and “Napoleon” on Apple TV+.

Despite its surge, “Dune” was not able to overtake Hulu’s new hit “Shōgun,” which premiered Feb. 27, as the top title of the week, according to Reelgood. “Shōgun” was the most-streamed program of any title on any platform and the most-streamed TV show, followed by “The Regime” on Max, “Resident Alien” on Peacock, “Constellation” on Apple TV+ and “The Tourist” on Netflix.

‘Shōgun,’ a drama set in Japan in the year 1600, was created by FX and streams on Hulu, Disney+ and Star+, where its premiere episode drew 9 million viewers in its first 6 days to overtake “The Bear” Season 2 as the top premiere of any FX series on Hulu, according to Variety.

Of the top 10 most-streamed movies of the week of Feb. 29, five were nominated for Academy Awards. “Oppenheimer” scored 13 nominations to be the most-nominated film of the year. The movie about the creation of the atomic bomb ultimately won seven awards, including best picture, best director (Christopher Nolan) and best supporting actor (Robert Downey Jr.). “Past Lives” was nominated for two awards and “Napoleon” for three, but neither film took home a win. “The Holdovers” was the sixth most-watched film of last week and was nominated for five Oscars. It won one—best actress in a supporting role (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). “Killers of the Flower Moon” was the eighth most-watched movie of last week and scored 10 Academy Award nominations this season, but didn’t didn’t win any.

KEY BACKGROUND

The planned theatrical premiere of “Dune” in 2020 was delayed due the Covid-10 pandemic and the film was ultimately released simultaneously in theaters and on the streaming platform HBO Max on Oct. 22, 2021. Despite struggles to return movie-watchers to theaters that year, the film was a box office success and broke into the highest-grossing films of 2021 at No. 12 with a $433.9 million worldwide gross. On HBO Max, “Dune” was watched by 1.9 million households in its first four days, beating the same-year streaming release of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” but falling to “The Suicide Squad.” The planned release of “Dune 2” was also delayed last year, this time due to the simultaneous Hollywood actors and writers strikes. The much-anticipated sequel instead released in theaters on March 1 and stormed to an $82.5 million domestic opening weekend, twice as much as its predecessor’s $41 million opening. Through March 10, “Dune: Part Two” had earned $367.5 million at the global box office, according to Deadline, rapidly approaching the international draw of “Dune.” The sequel is tracking 64% ahead of “Dune,” Deadline reported.

TANGENT

“Dune: Part Two” isn’t the only recent release that has sent the streaming success of its predecessor soaring. Last week, the 2019 film “Code 8” broke into the most-streamed movies of the week on Netflix following the Feb. 28 release of its sequel, “Code 8 Part ll.” Anticipation for the fourth installment in the “Despicable Me” universe this summer has driven the first three films to massive Netflix success this year. “Despicable Me 3” was the most-watched film on Netflix from Feb. 5 to Feb. 11, and it was joined in the top 10 that week by “Despicable Me 2” and “Despicable Me” in the fifth and sixth spots, respectively. “Despicable Me 3″ has been in the top 10 films every week since. Other older films that have soared this year include the 1990 film “Pretty Woman” (its surge coincided with the release of popular Netflix film “Leave the World Behind,” also starring Julia Roberts) and “Legend Of Tarzan” spiked in popularity eight years after its debut as its star, Margot Robbie, stared in the summer Blockbuster “Barbie.”