“Lightyear” Disney+ Initial US Viewership Revealed
Last week, Disney released the latest Pixar animated film, “Lightyear” onto Disney+ in many countries around the world.
“Lightyear” follows the legendary Space Ranger after he’s marooned on a hostile planet 4.2 million light-years from Earth alongside his commander and their crew. As Buzz tries to find a way back home through space and time, he’s joined by a group of ambitious recruits and his charming robot companion cat, Sox. Complicating matters and threatening the mission is the arrival of Zurg, an imposing presence with an army of ruthless robots and a mysterious agenda. The film is a sci-fi action adventure and the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear, the hero who inspired the toy.
The film was originally released in cinemas in June, pulling in over $220 million globally at the box office, which is much less than the other “Toy Story” films.
Samba TV has released some early stats on the film’s initial release on Disney+ for the first five days. The film was watched by 1.7 million US households.
By comparison, “Encanto” was watched by over a million more US households than “Lightyear”, but that did debut on Disney+ just 30 days after it was released in theatres and on Christmas Eve, so more people were at home to watch the film. And Pixar’s film, “Turning Red” debuted onto Disney+ in March and was watched by 2.5 million US households.
The film features the voices of Chris Evans as accomplished Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear, Uzo Aduba as his commander and best friend Alisha Hawthorne and Peter Sohn as Sox. Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi and Dale Soules lend their voices to the Junior Zap Patrol’s Izzy Hawthorne, Mo Morrison and Darby Steel, respectively, and James Brolin can be heard as the enigmatic Zurg. The voice cast also includes Mary McDonald-Lewis as onboard computer I.V.A.N., Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Commander Burnside, Efren Ramirez as Airman Díaz, Keira Hairston as Young Izzy and Tim Peake as Tim/Mission Control (in U.K. release). It was directed by Angus MacLane (co-director “Finding Dory”), produced by Galyn Susman (“Toy Story That Time Forgot”) and featuring a score by award-winning composer Michael Giacchino (“The Batman,” “Up”).
Did you watch “Lightyear” last week on Disney+?