Did anyone else watch Cruella this weekend?

We’ve been admiring the incredible costumes, acting, and storyline featured in the origin story of the villain. Apart from the actual popularity of the film, we’ve been curious about what the numbers look like for the movie’s debut!

Deadline has shared that Cruella‘s Disney+ viewership over the four-day Memorial Day Weekend was 39% less than Mulan’s previous viewership back during Labor Day Weekend in 2020. The 101 Dalmatians prequel brought in 686,000 U.S. households compared to the 1.12 million U.S. households for the live-action Mulan.

While both Mulan and Cruella were available on Disney+ for $29.99, Cruella debuted simultaneously in theaters. And, this was actually to the movie’s benefit since it brought in $47.07M in total for its box office and Premier Access earnings compared to Mulan‘s $33.58M.

The viewership was measured using Samba TV’s panel size of 3 million U.S. households who tuned into their TVs for at least 5 minutes of the film. However, these do not include the mobile and online streaming of Disney+’s releases. Samba TV noted that Cruella brought in 83,000 UK households (for the £19.99 price tag that adds up to £1.66M or $2.35M) and $2.2M for the UK box office, making a total of $16.1M overseas. Samba TV has also stated that Cruella drew in 15,000 households in Germany and 9,000 households in Australia, among other viewership locations.

A Disney spokesperson noted to Deadline that “Memorial Day weekend marked the first time consumers have had substantial choice in movie viewing since the onset of the pandemic. Cruella’s strong combined showing in theaters around the world and on Disney+ with Premier Access illustrates that flexibility at this time is critical and that the overall demand for great content is strong.”

After seeing the numbers for Cruella‘s drive for audiences to return to theaters, we could see Disney begin to shift its releases towards theaters instead of on Disney+ primarily. While Luca will be debuting exclusively on the streaming service, Black Widow will have a dual release on Disney+ and in theaters. So, the numbers for the giant Marvel release may predict how Disney moves forward with theatrical releases later in the year.

We’ll be sure to keep an eye on everything happening with the movie and theater industry! And, you can stay tuned with All Ears for the latest Disney entertainment and news!

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What upcoming Disney feature are you looking forward to watching the most? Let us know in the comments below!