According to viewership data released by Crackle following its premiere, Joe Dirt 2 is a huge hit for the streaming service. The Hollywood Reporter shows that the film garnered 278,000 streams within the first 24 hours, a number that doesn’t seem too impressive compared to larger services but is the largest audience for any program in Crackle’s history.
THR also notes that this would average out to a much larger success than the original Joe Dirt when running some calculations based on average ticket prices:
Crackle is a free, ad-supported service, so it’s difficult to compare Joe Dirt 2’s streaming performance to a film’s theatrical release. But the company did some math to determine that had the film drawn the same number of viewers in theaters with a NATO average ticket price $8.12, it would have had a Thursday box office equivalent of $2.25 million.
That would be double the $1.3 million that Joe Dirt made on its opening day in April of 2001, which adjusted for inflation is equal to $1.75 million today. The original film was not a blockbuster, earning $8 million in its opening weekend and $27 million total domestically, but the sequel is clearly a hit for Crackle. The streamer says that Joe Dirt 2 has been the top performing title on Crackle’s site — including all original and licensed content — since Wednesday. And according to the company’s analysis, half of the people who have watched the movie so far are new to Crackle.
Congratulations curious onlookers and fans of the original (a fine movie if you’ve caught it during a boring moment or a passing surprise), you’ve made this a viable platform for horrible sequel ideas. Ever wanted to see what the delivery guy from Big Daddy does with his day? Hello, Crackle. Can the Mud Dogs win the big one with Bobby Boucher sidelined and replaced by that murderous Cajun swampbilly in The Waterboy 2? Crackle knows. The Animal Part Two: Even Wilder, coming soon to Crackle.
Basically I’m pointing out that you’ve opened the door for Rob Schneider to bounce back into the cheap, ad-supported limelight of our lives.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
