‘Coming 2 America’ Scores Big Debut on Amazon, Nielsen Says

Eddie Murphy’s Coming 2 America debuted to a big audience on Amazon.

The sequel to 1988’s Coming to America leads Nielsen’s streaming rankings for the week of March 1-7 with 1.41 billion minutes of viewing time — making it one of the most watched films to debut on a streaming service in the six months Nielsen has been releasing weekly rankings.

Only Wonder Woman 1984 (2.25 billion minutes on HBO Max), Soul (1.67 billion on Disney+) and The Christmas Chronicles 2 (1.52 billion on Netflix) have had bigger streaming openings since Nielsen started tracking weekly viewing time in August 2020.

Coming 2 America, directed by Craig Brewer, is also the first Amazon title to lead the streaming rankings and becomes the fourth overall No. 1 in as many weeks, displacing Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia. The 1.41 billion minutes of watch time for the Paramount-produced movie equates to about 12.8 million full showings of the film, based on its 110-minute running time.

Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon — which was a premium release on Disney+, costing an extra $30 to view — also made the top 10 movies. Users watched 355 million minutes of the film, or about 3.32 million full showings based on a 107-minute run time.

Ginny & Georgia had a strong second week on Netflix, growing by 22 percent to 1.16 billion minutes. WandaVision finished second among original series with 924 million minutes of watch time on Disney+ — its best showing yet — for the week of its finale. Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, which wrapped in 2019, also cracked the top 10 in original series.

Streaming platforms contend Nielsen’s methodology doesn’t capture the full scope of viewing on devices other than TV sets. Nielsen also only measures U.S. audiences, not those in other countries, and currently only includes Amazon, Disney+, Hulu and Netflix in its rankings.

Nielsen’s streaming top 10s for March 1-7 are below. Original streaming films are marked with an asterisk.

Original Series

1. Ginny & Georgia (Netflix), 1.16 billion minutes viewed
2. WandaVision (Disney+), 924 million
3. Murder Among the Mormons (Netflix), 587 million
4. Behind Her Eyes (Netflix), 369 million
5. Firefly Lane (Netflix), 274 million
6. The Crown (Netflix), 242 million
7. Orange Is the New Black (Netflix), 237 million
8. Bridgerton (Netflix), 235 million
9. The Great British Baking Show (Netflix), 207 million
10. Longmire (Netflix), 201 million

Acquired Series

1. Criminal Minds (Netflix), 929 million minutes
2. Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix), 858 million
3. Good Girls (Netflix), 579 million
4. NCIS (Netflix), 555 million
5. Schitt’s Creek (Netflix), 493 million
6 (tie). Cocomelon (Netflix), 475 million
6 (tie). Heartland (Netflix), 475 million
8. iCarly (Netflix), 431 million
9. Supernatural (Netflix), 400 million
10. The Sinner (Netflix), 334 million

Movies

1. Coming 2 America* (Amazon), 1.41 billion minutes
2 (tie). Bigfoot Family (Netflix), 363 million
2 (tie). I Care a Lot* (Netflix), 363 million
4. Raya and the Last Dragon* (Disney+), 355 million
5. Moxie* (Netflix), 257 million
6. Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell* (Netflix), 203 million
7. Moana (Disney+), 185 million
8. The Dark Knight (Netflix), 176 million
9. No Escape (Netflix), 141 million
10. Frozen (Disney+), 134 million