“Malcolm In The Middle: Life’s Still Unfair” Becomes Another Hit For Disney+ & Hulu
Last week, Disney revived the classic sitcom, “Malcolm In The Middle” with a special four-episode limited series called “Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair” on Hulu and Disney+ for bundle subscribers in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally.
After shielding himself and his daughter from his family for over a decade, Malcolm is dragged back into their orbit when Hal and Lois demand his presence at their 40th anniversary party.
The initial release on Hulu and Disney+ has been positive, as the show pulled in 8.1 million views worldwide within its first three days. This was calculated as total views as total viewing minutes divided by running time. This equates to more than 900 million minutes/15 million hours of watch time globally
The revival was also very popular in Latin America, pulling in 3.6 million viewers on Disney+ and was the second most popular premiere on Disney+ over the weekend, behind only the first season of Marvel’s original series, “Loki”.
It was also revealed that the revival also boosted viewership of the original show, doubling the viewership from the previous week.
The revival’s premiere also gave a boost to the original series: It had 18 million hours of viewing worldwide last week, Disney says, more than double the previous seven days.
The series reunites Bryan Cranston (Hal), Frankie Muniz (Malcolm), Jane Kaczmarek (Lois), Christopher Kennedy Masterson (Francis), Justin Berfield (Reese), and Emy Coligado (Piama). They’re joined by new cast members Keeley Karsten (Leah, Malcolm’s daughter), Vaughan Murrae (Kelly, Malcolm’s youngest sibling), Kiana Madeira (Tristan, Malcolm’s girlfriend), and Caleb Ellsworth-Clark (as Dewey).
From Disney Branded Television, the limited series is produced by 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios, and New Regency. Linwood Boomer created the original series and returns as writer and executive producer. Cranston, Tracy Katsky Boomer, Gail Berman and New Regency’s Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan and Natalie Lehmann are executive producers. Ken Kwapis will direct all four episodes and executive-produce. Jimmy Simons and Laura Delahaye are co-executive producers.
All previous seasons of “Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair” and the new “Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair” series are available to stream now on Hulu and Hulu On Disney+ in the United States and on Disney+ around the world.
Roger’s Take: It doesn’t surprise me to see the revival of “Malcolm In The Middle” did well on Disney+ and Hulu, as nostalgia generally performs well on those platforms, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if this opens the door for another return later down the line.
Did you check out “Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair”? Let me know on social media!
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