‘The Lovebirds’ Is Netflix’s Number-One Movie, ‘Scoob!’ Leads VOD Charts

Tom Brueggemann

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On the usual Memorial Day holiday, the summer box office is just reaching high gear. This weekend was supposed to launch “F9” into the stratosphere — until the pandemic forced Universal to push back the latest “Fast & Furious” franchise title to April 2, 2021.

As May comes to a close, “Scoob!” is continuing its premium VOD success for Warner Bros. (Generally, the top-ranked titles are similar to recent weeks.) This weekend’s newbie was Paramount’s once-planned April release “The Lovebirds,” starring Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani, which showed up at Netflix, while several other originals launched with varying reactions.

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Here are some topline results:

“The Lovebirds” went straight to number one on Netflix.

The first 2020 theatrical studio title to be sold to a streamer (others followed, including Sony’s “Greyhound” to Apple), Michael Showalter’s crime comedy rose to the top film spot at Netflix as soon as it was released last Friday. We don’t yet know the volume of interest, but unlike the Russo brothers’ original action film “Extraction,” “The Lovebirds” hasn’t risen to #1 among all programs, where two episodic series rank higher.

“The Wrong Missy” starring David Spade, produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions, fell from number one to number two among movies. The animated original “The Willoughbys” remains in the Netflix top 10 as the streamer claims that the film has been sampled in 37-million households worldwide (with multiple viewers) in its first month of availability.

“Scoob!” soared everywhere.

“Scoob!” is the first movie to rank at number one at all four of our VOD viewing charts since IndieWire started tracking them in mid-March. While the volume of revenues remains unknown, the title led all total transactions, even when priced three-times higher than most other offerings.

Universal’s “Trolls World Tour,” which had already generated a reported $95 million several weeks ago, continues its strong showing, ranking as high as number two at Amazon Prime and FandangoNOW; for some reason, iTunes continues to not show it.

Many military movies popped up on multiple charts, filling up one-third of iTunes’ Top 100 on Monday, with Oscar winner “The Hurt Locker” ranked at number four.

Other new movies are starting to pop up.

“Blood and Money” (Screen Media), starring Tom Berenger as a Maine hunter who stumbles into a crime scene, is number eight at Spectrum at the standard non-premium $6.99 price. Now in its third weekend, “Capone” (Vertical) stuck around at Spectrum and FandangoNOW while dropping elsewhere. The distributor announced during the week it had taken in $2.5 million in its first 10 days.

Among other new releases, Bleecker Street’s “Military Wives,” a British comedy from Peter Catteano (“The Full Monty”), which premiered at last year’s Toronto, is already at number 24 at iTunes — and unusually is simultaneously streaming at Hulu. Neon’s well-reviewed Sundance prize-winning documentary “The Painter and the Thief” is number 90 at iTunes. Paramount’s “Body Cam” with Mary J. Blige showed some initial weekday interest at Fandango.

Not yet registering on our VOD charts are new releases including IFC’s “The Trip to Greece,” Bruce Willis’ most recent VOD release “Survive the Night” (Lionsgate), and Greenwich’s documentary “Diane Kennedy: Doing Nothing.” (Some titles above may have separate outlets including company sites.)

Coming up this week is music-world drama “The High Note” (Focus Features), starring Dakota Johnson and Tracee Ellis Ross, the first of several higher profile non-family premium debuts over upcoming weeks. Focus is also giving Jon Stewart’s “Irresistible” a premium VOD release on June 26.

Drive-in theater totals increase again.

The number of open-air theaters has risen to over 300, with about half of these drive-ins. Outdoor theaters continue to provide nearly all of the current box-office revenue, with their audiences mostly satisfied with recent also at-home releases (not including “Scoob!”) or older library films.

Three-day weekend grosses came in at over $2 million (with double-feature grosses listed twice). That’s a pickup over last week.

The top four titles are from Universal, which has led the field since its day-and-date release of “Trolls World Tour” at number one. IFC’s horror thriller “The Wretched,” also on VOD, seems to be the next highest, adding around $200,000 through Monday and approaching $600,000 (again in most cases sharing that drive-in revenues with non-IFC titles). IFC Midnight releases multiple horror and other genre titles through the year to VOD and token indoor dates, but not drive-ins normally. In this case, they have smartly taken advantage of the situation and found an additional revenue source.

Saban Films also offered “We Summon the Darkness,” a rock-and-roll horror film released last month on VOD to theaters, with $30,000 reported in 10 drive-ins. Also, “Arkansas,” three weeks after the Liam Hemsworth original hit VOD from Lionsgate, added theaters, with a reported gross close to $80,000.

So far, “Capone” has not been provided to theaters.

Amazon Prime

Ranked by number of transactions, with the daily position as of Monday, May 25

1. Scoob! (Warner Bros.) – $19.99/$24.99 to buy

2. Trolls World Tour (Universal) – $19.99

3. Bloodshot (Sony) – $5.99

4. The Hurt Locker (Lionsgate) – $1.99

5. Sonic the Hedgehog (Paramount) – 4.99

6. The Greatest Showman (Disney) – $3.99

7. Bad Boys for Life (Sony) – $5.99

8. Knives Out (Lionsgate) – $5.99

9. Fantasy Island (Sony) – $5.99

10. Jumanji: The Next Level (Sony) – $5.99

FandangoNOW

Ranked by revenue accrued not transactions, for the week ending Monday, May 25

1. Scoob! (Warner Bros.) – $19.99/$24.99 to buy

2. Trolls World Tour (Universal) – $19.99

3. The Invisible Man (Universal) – $14.99

4. Sonic the Hedgehog (Paramount) – $4.99

5. Bad Boys for Life (Sony) – $4.99

6. Capone (Vertical) – $9.99

7. Bloodshot (Paramount) – $4.99

8. Fantasy Island (Universal) – $4.99

9. Jumanji: The Next Level (Sony) – $4.99

10. Emma (Focus) – $5.99

Spectrum

Ranked by transactions for May 15-21; all are $6.99 except as noted

1. Scoob! (Warner Bros.) – $19.99

2. Fantasy Island (Sony)

3. Sonic the Hedgehog (Paramount)

4. Bloodshot (Sony)

5. Bad Boys for Life (Sony)

6. Capone (Vertical) – $9.99

7. Trolls World Tour (Universal) – $19.99

8. Blood and Money (Screen Media)

9. The Photograph (Universal)

10. Call of the Wild (Disney)

iTunes

Ranked by number of transactions, with the daily position as of Monday, May 18; excludes premium VOD rental-only titles

1. Scoob! (Warner Bros.) – $19.99, $24.99 to buy

2. Jumanji: The Next Level (Sony) – $5.99

3. Emma (Focus) – $5.99

4. Bloodshot (Sony) – $3.99

5. The Gentlemen (STX) – $5.99

6. Sonic the Hedgehog (Paramounnt) – $5.99

7. Bad Boys for Life (Sony) – $5.99

8. Birds of Prey (Warner Bros.) – $5.99

9. Midway (Lionsgate) – $5.99

10. Fury (Sony) – $4.99

Netflix Movies

Most-viewed, current ranking as of Monday, May 25

1. The Lovebirds (Paramount intended a 2020 theatrical release; now Netflix original)

2. The Wrong Missy (Netflix original)

3. Just Go With It (2011 theatrical release)

4. Soul Surfer (2011 theatrical release)

5. Despicable Me (2010 theatrical release)

6. Public Enemies (2009 theatrical release)

7. Extraction (Netflix original)

8. The Willoughbys (Netflix original)

9. Den of Thieves (2018 theatrical release)

10. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008 theatrical release)

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