• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, June 25, 2024

Weekly lists of the most-watched movies and TV shows on streaming reveal that the most popular shows in streaming can come from anywhere at any time, sometimes by surprise.

A case in point from a most-watched list covering the week of June 13 to June 19 is the appearance on the list of “Brats,” the Hulu documentary about the lives of the young actors of the 1980s known as the Brat Pack, and “St. Elmo’s Fire,” one of the Brat Pack’s quintessential movies.

It is not unreasonable to conclude that the viewing of one -- the “Brats” documentary -- begat a sudden interest in the Brat Pack movie, which people then searched for and found on Amazon Prime.

“Brats” was the third most-watched movie in streaming for the week, according to a weekly tally from Reelgood.com and its Reelgood Streaming Charts. “St. Elmo’s Fire” was ranked ninth.

“Hit Man” on Netflix was the No. 1 movie in streaming for the second consecutive week, followed by “Monkey Man” on Peacock Premium in the No. 2 spot.

First released in theaters May 24, “Hit Man” came to Netflix on June 7. Described as a “hired killer rom-com,” the movie is gaining in popularity in large measure from word of mouth.

“Monkey Man” stars Dev Patel as a greatly traumatized man set on revenge against, well, everybody.

Also on the most-watched movie list, according to Reelgood: No. 4, “Godzilla Minus One” (Netflix); No. 5, “Inside Out” (Disney+); No. 6, “Oppenheimer” (Prime Video); No. 7, “Under Paris” (Netflix); No. 8, “Dune: Part Two” (Max); and No. 10, “American Fiction” (Prime Video).

The Top 10 most-watched TV list was headed by the new Apple TV+ series “Presumed Innocent” starring Jake Gyllenhaal in the role played by Harrison Ford in a 1990 movie adaptation of the Scott Turow legal thriller. The TV show shot to number one in its first week. 

Also on the TV list, in order from two through 10: “The Boys” (Prime Video), “The Acolyte” (Disney+), “House of the Dragon” (Max), “Dark Matter” (Apple TV+), “Bridgerton” (Netflix), “Your Honor” (Netflix), “Eric” (Netflix), “Evil” (Paramount+) and “The Bear” (Hulu).

“Evil” is a great example of a show given a new lease on life on streaming. The show, about a group of special investigators who track paranormal phenomena for the Vatican, premiered on CBS in September 2019.

At the time, one critic condemned it as “the worst new network show of the fall season,” but viewers apparently disagreed because the show has been a success ever since subsequent seasons went to streaming, first on the old CBS All Access and now Paramount+.

The Reelgood charts also include a Top 10 list of most-watched movies and TV shows. “Hit Man” was the most-watched offering in streaming -- movies or TV -- for the week of June 13 to June 19. No 2 on that list was “Presumed Innocent.”

Photo from “St. Elmo’s Fire”: (l-r) Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore.