Summary
-
The Emoji
Movie
has become the 10th most-watched movie on Netflix in the U.S. the week of August 5. - This has become the case in spite of the movie’s 6% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
- The movie may have found a wide audience because it is new on the platform.
The Emoji Movie has become a Netflix hit in the United States. The 2017 animated feature stars T.J. Miller as a Meh emoji whose ability to show multiple expressions makes him an outcast in a strictly regimented emoji society that exists inside the smartphone of teenage boy Alex. The movie was critically reviled, earning a 6% score on Rotten Tomatoes and going on to win the Worst Picture Razzie Award along with three others including Worst Director and Worst Screenplay.
Netflix has now calculated their official Top 10 chart of the most-watched movies in the United States for the week of August 5 through August 11. The Emoji Movie has landed at No. 10 on the chart in the wake of its arrival on the platform. It is one of several movies designed for family audiences that are on the chart, a roster that also includes Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax at No. 9, Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat at No. 5, Trolls Band Together at No. 3, and Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie at No. 2.
Why Are So Many People Watching The Emoji Movie?
Netflix Is A Powerful Influence
It may come as a surprise that so many people are watching The Emoji Movie on Netflix seven years later in spite of its dismal reception. However, there are several factors that are likely behind the movie’s performance. One is the fact that the movie was designed to capitalize on the emoji fad, which has not faded away in the intervening years like the fads behind similar animated titles including 2019’s UglyDolls or 2016’s The Angry Birds Movie, though the upcoming Angry Birds Movie3 may reveal that producers believe there is interest in that property as well.
There is also the matter that The Emoji Movie never performed quite as poorly with audiences as it did with critics. While viewers were still hard on the movie, its Rotten Tomatoes audience score is 36%, which makes it six times higher than its Tomatometer score despite still being firmly Rotten. The movie was also a commercial success in 2017, earning $217.8 million against its $50 million budget and outgrossing other prominent movies from that year such as A Dog’s Purpose, John Wick: Chapter 2, Pitch Perfect 3, and the Best Picture winner A Shape of Water.
The box office totals of the sequels
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
and
John Wick: Chapter 4
both exceeded
Chapter 2
considerably and outgrossed
The Emoji Movie
.
Additionally, it remains to be seen if The Emoji Movie remains on the chart for longer than one week. It may have simply charted because it is a new title in the Netflix library in the United States, and new titles typically get a boost as viewers with long-term subscriptions sit down to watch the streaming service’s latest offerings. If it drops off the chart later, this could reflect that there is no lasting interest in the movie beyond its novelty.
Source: Netflix
The Emoji Movie
1.5
When their world is threatened to be deleted, Gene (TJ Miller) ventures off with Hi-5 (James Corden) and Jailbreak (Anna Faris) to save Textopolis and become an emoji with a single expression. Despite being critically panned, The Emoji Movie had a stacked supporting cast, including Maya Rudolph, Jennifer Coolidge, Patrick Stewart, Christina Aguilera, and Sofía Vergara, among others.
- Director
- Anthony Leondis
- Release Date
- July 28, 2017
- Studio(s)
- Sony Pictures Animation , Columbia Pictures
- Writers
- Eric Siegel , Anthony Leondis , Mike White
- Cast
- Rob Riggle , Steven Wright , Jake T. Austin , Patrick Stewart , Ilana Glazer , Christina Aguilera , T.J. Miller , Anna Faris , Jennifer Coolidge , James Corden , Maya Rudolph , Sofia Vergara
- Runtime
- 86 Minutes
- Budget
- $50 Million