Pixar's latest film, Onward, seems to be more popular on Disney+ than it was while in theaters. Onward debuted in early March to mostly positive reviews, but disappointing box office results. Its $40 million opening weekend was far below recent Pixar offerings, and matters weren't helped by the growing coronavirus pandemic. During Onward's first weekend, people were starting to get nervous about visiting public places, but it wasn't clear if that anxiety had a major impact on ticket sales. The following weekend, however, proved that the concern had grown, as the overall box office total marked a twenty-year low. Not long after, movie theaters across the United States shut their doors indefinitely.
To patch up the expected losses, studios began to reconsider their typical release format. In a new trend started by Universal, movies began heading to on-demand months ahead of schedule. This proved to be quite successful, since most people are tucked up inside their homes looking for new forms of entertainment. Disney released Onward on-demand on March 20, with a Disney+ launch following on April 3. This is an unprecedented move, but then again, so much of what is happening right now is unprecedented.
Things seem to have worked out for Disney, because Onward's popularity has spiked since its arrival on Disney+. When looking at the Google search trends for the film, there's a noted increase between how Onward tracked during the weeks before and right after its opening and how it appears now that it has hit Disney+. Just after its release in theaters, it hit 33 on the chart, but after the Disney+ launch, it reached 42. The numbers refer to search interest relative to the highest point on the chart, which is typically 100. It could continue to increase once this week's data is collected, but so far it's clear that Onward has risen in popularity.
This is further shown over on Tumblr. The social media site tracks weekly "fandometrics," or which movies, TV shows, celebrities, etc., are popular throughout a given week. Following Onward's opening in theaters, the Pixar fantasy made it to #3 on the weekly movie chart. However, after being released on Disney+, it hit #2 after jumping a whopping 6 spots. (If you're curious, Birds of Prey was #1 both times.) Onward also saw a boost on IMDb's Most Popular Movies chart, hitting #5.
While these stats don't necessarily encapsulate the entire internet, they do show that there's a greater interest in Onward now. This could be because of a variety of factors. One option is people weren't willing to venture to the theater before, but now that it's available for home viewing, they're free to enjoy Onward without the added stress. Another suggests it could be people are so starved for new content that they're quick to watch whatever they can find. Regardless of why, moving Onward to Disney+ was a success.
Source: Google Trends, Tumblr, IMDb