EXCLUSIVE: In its first 24 hours after dropping on Feb. 17, the trailer for Disney’s edgy live-action feature Cruella about the famed 101 Dalmatians villainess drew a very notable 71M views per sources.
That’s a very exceptional number for a trailer dropping during the pandemic, even beating the 24 hour trailer viewership figures of pre-Covid theatrical releases Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (61.7M) and Will Smith-Guy Ritchie hit Aladdin (60.8M).
True, Cruella‘s traffic is a far cry from Disney’s Lion King trailer which posted an awesome first day record of 224M global views after dropping on Thanksgiving Day 2018. Mulan‘s first teaser trailer was released in early July 2019 and also grabbed 175M first day views, but again, it was a different time for movies before Coronavirus.
That said, in the Covid 24-hour insane social media breaking news world, the volume of social conversation was enormous for Cruella at 265K mentions surpassing both Aladdin (228K) and Beauty and The Beast (154K) which benefitted respectively from the social footprints of Smith and Emma Watson.
Cruella is currently dated to open on May 28 in theaters. Deadline first heard that the movie was going to do Disney+, however, at Disney Investor Day, the studio didn’t include it among those features transitioning to the streaming service. On March 5, Disney is doing a same-day theatrical and Disney+ PVOD release of Raya and the Last Dragon. It remains to be seen whether the studio will emulate the same type of distribution strategy with Cruella. There’s intense speculation given how Los Angeles and New York City aren’t open yet that Disney will move the theatrical release of Marvel’s Black Widow off its May 7 opening date.
Directed by Craig Gillespie and starring Oscar winner Emma Stone in the title role, Cruella is set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution. The pic follows a young grifter named Estella, a clever and creative girl determined to make a name for herself with her designs. She befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they are able to build a life for themselves on the London streets. One day, Estella’s flair for fashion catches the eye of the Baroness von Hellman, a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute, played by two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson. But their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable and revenge-bent Cruella.
Dana Fox and The Great‘s Tony McNamara wrote the screenplay off a story by Aline Brosh McKenna and Kelly Marcel & Steve Zissis. Cruella was produced by Andrew Gunn, Marc Platt and Kristin Burr, with Stone, Michelle Wright, Jared LeBoff and Glenn Close serving as EPs.
Recently, Disney’s Super Bowl trailer for its streaming series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier posted 125M in its first 24 hours, repping a record for a streaming series.