‘Boston Strangler’ Delivers Hulu’s Best Week of the Year for Streaming Movies | Chart

Whip Media
·3 min read
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Hulu enjoyed its best showing of 2023 on Whip Media’s movie ranker, thanks to “Boston Strangler,” which grabbed the bronze medal for the past weekend after its Friday debut, according to viewership data from TV Time, its TV and movie tracking app with more than 25 million global registered users.

“Boston Strangler” stars Keira Knightley as Loretta McLaughlin, the reporter who doggedly pursued the titular 1960s serial killer alongside fellow investigative reporter Jean Cole (played by Carrie Coon). And it delivered an immediate impact for Hulu on Whip Media’s movie ranker, which looks at the 10 most-streamed movies of the past weekend.

The movie also left a strong impression on critics, with most complimenting Knightley and Coon for making the crime drama a worthwhile watch. “Though not quite perfect, ‘Boston Strangler,’ the latest from writer-director Matt Ruskin (“Crown Heights”), makes an admirable addition to its often exploitative genre,” Lena Wilson wrote in her review for TheWrap.

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Netflix also had a strong showing, regaining its position at the top of the ranker, thanks to Idris Elba and “Luther: The Fallen Sun.” The streamer has been going back and forth with Peacock for bragging rights recently, with the streaming services trading the No. 1 spot each of the last five weeks.

The previous weekend’s most-streamed movie, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” dropped to sixth place this week, while Peacock’s “M3GAN,” which has been a strong performer since hitting the service in late February, came in fifth place.

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” meanwhile, gave Paramount a streaming boost with its big night at the Oscars. The Best Picture winner jumped two spots from last weekend, coming in as the second most-streamed movie of the week. And that’s a big deal for Paramount’s Showtime, which it’s in the process of turning into the premium tier for Paramount+: The second-place finish for “Everything” is the highest a Showtime movie has landed on Whip Media’s ranker this year.

Top streaming movies, March 17-19, 2023, U.S. (Whip Media)
Top streaming movies, March 17-19, 2023, U.S. (Whip Media)

Staples like “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” on Disney+ and “The Menu” on HBO Max continued to pull in viewers. And sex sells — or at least, helps sell subscriptions — with Netflix’s new documentary “Money Shot: The Pornhub Story” making its debut in the seventh spot.

One more thing to note: 2019’s “Shazam” received a healthy streaming boost with “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” hitting theaters last week, grabbing 10th place for the week. This follows a familiar trend of late where sequels drive viewers to stream earlier movies in the franchise. Most recently, we saw this with the first two “Creed” movies cracking Whip Media’s top 10 on the back of “Creed III” and its box office dominance.

Sean Burch is a marketing insights analyst at Whip Media, a WrapPRO partner. Click here for more from Whip Media.

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