The Interview is the most-watched movie on Google Play
David Farnor | On 11, Mar 2017
This week saw Google Play turn five years old.
On 6th March 2012, the online giant went from search engine to its very own shop, selling moves, books, games, apps and TV shows directly to users – particularly, users with Google Android devices.
In five years, Google Play’s customer base has grown to more than 1 billion active users in 190 countries. And with millions of apps, 40 million songs, 5 million books, and tons of films to boot, the result has become an important distribution platform for developers, studios and more to build their global audience.
To celebrate its birthday, Google has counted up the number of sales over the last five years and revealed its most-downloaded movies. At the top of the list? The Interview, which was famously released online on Christmas Day in 2014, following a Korean hack into Sony’s system, releasing thousands of internal documents online. Within days, it racked up millions in digital rentals, becoming Sony’s highest-grossing online title ever.
The Interview is followed by Frozen, an indicator of just how popular the Disney family flick is. Third place goes to Deadpool, a sign that a movie doesn’t need a family audience to bring in the digital bucks.
Here’s the full list – click on any of the titles to read our full review and see where you can watch them online, including Google Play.
The Interview
“Whether you can separate from the controversy or not, The Interview is well worth a watch for its pop-culture savvy approach to political satire. It’s not the greatest American comedy ever made, but it never really needed to be. Rogen and Goldberg never intended to give us an Archduke Ferdinand in cinematic form, but purely on the strength of their filmmaking here, you get the sense that they have more important work still to come.”
Frozen
“For the first time in forever, a Disney Princess movie is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses – and not the other way around.”
Deadpool
“If you can accept Deadpool as the non-radical romp it is, there’s lot of puerile fun to be had.”
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
” It’s a hard line to hit, the one between the past and the future, but The Force Awakens nails it like Luke Skywalker hitting a womp in a T-16 Skyhopper. Unlike Star Trek Into Darkness and SPECTRE, the only thing The Force Awakens leaves you wanting is more – more details about these new characters and how they fit in with the universe. More dogfights. More Lightsabers. And more BB-8. As the franchise continues to grow with this new generation of movies, the hype is only set to do the same. The magical thing? It’s true. All of it.”
Guardians of the Galaxy
“A lot of the joy just comes from watching the actors interact, whether that’s a sentimental moment involving Groot or the sight of a small, homicidal mammal wielding a machine gun. If it ultimately bows to convention, that streak of smart silliness makes Guardians of the Galaxy just different enough to be fun for comic book fans and skeptics alike. Another superhero movie? Stop worrying, put your Walkman on, and succumb to its pelvic sorcery.”
Related Posts
Ares: Production begins on first Netflix Dutch series... February 12, 2019 | David Farnor
Arrow, Supergirl and The Flash to return to UK TV in October 2016... September 20, 2016 | David Farnor
“Treading water”: BBC iPlayer’s battle with Netflix and Amazon... February 3, 2017 | David Farnor
Fox has “no plans right now” for more Prison Break or 24: Legacy... May 16, 2017 | David Farnor
