Willow on Disney+

A Quick Look at the Series Premiere Viewership Data.

A week after Netflix's hugely successful Wednesday premiere, Disney+ answered with the first two episodes of the highly-anticipated Willow. Is the end of 2022 bringing us another destined-for-success show? Or is serving up another streaming premiere in such a crowded period not a good idea?

Ron Howard directed the original Willow (1988) movie; George Lucas wrote the script; and Val Kilmer and Warwick Davis played the leading roles. The story follows the adventures of a farmer named Willow, who tries to rescue little Elora from an evil queen. The movie is full of humor, and true fans will remember that Willow was also the beginning of Joanne Whalley and Val Kilmer's love story.

According to our Showlabs data, in the first week after its premiere, Willow debuted as number four in the Disney+ Series & Movies Top 10 in the United States with 2.1M Unique Viewers (UV). At the same time, the most-watched movie on Disney+ was The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special with 4.4 M UV. The Santa Clauses, watched by 1.8 M UV, and Star Wars: Andor with 3.8M UV.

Table 1: Disney+ Top 10, November 30 - December 7, 2022, United States

2.1M Unique Viewers for the first two Willow episodes is a solid result. But let’s be honest – when Disney+ reboots a popular and highly-anticipated story from the 80's, then 1.7 M UV for the week is not even close to success. Other Disney+ originals, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Star Wars: Andor, had 9,9 and 7,6 million Unique Viewers, respectively, in the first week after their premieres.

Another Willow competitor is the recent Netflix original phenomenon–Wednesday. In its first seven days, Tim Burton’s new show gathered more than 50M Unique Viewers in the United States alone!

However, the strict comparison of Willow and Wednesday results can be confusing. Analyzing both titles' data, we need to be aware that they are in various genres and are dedicated to different targets. Additionally, analyzed titles are from other platforms, representing different Shares of Viewing (SoV)- 37.3% for Wednesday and 5.1% for Willow. But what connects them is they're both related to cult movies. And as Wednesday’s case shows, sometimes resurrecting a well-known story leads to amazing success. Will it be the same with Willow? Only time will tell.

PlumResearch specializes in precise and granular data measurement from streaming platforms. It has the world’s largest online audience panel and provides its clients with data from over 75 markets worldwide.

Through Showlabs - the proprietary platform created by PlumResearch - the company’s clients can find out how shows and movies are performing worldwide and track what exactly contributes to their success. Showlabs provides clients with accurate data, in-depth insights, and a reliable customer support team.