A Nicole Kidman Series Just Set A Streaming Record
Nicole Kidman is now leading the way on streaming.
This article is more than 2 years old
A Nicole Kidman-led miniseries was the most-watched Hulu original ever, shaping up as a massive success for the streaming service. Despite not disclosing any hard numbers and viewing statistics about Nine Perfect Strangers, Hulu did say that the series three-part premiere has broken a significant streaming record.
According to Deadline, Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers is the most-watched Hulu original ever – on premiere day, as well as after five days on the service, breaking a record previously set by The Handmaid’s Tale season four. Hulu previously announced the prominence of The Handmaid’s Tale on the streaming platform, so the Nicole Kidman-starring show’s success is a good sign for the miniseries’ future, given that it overshadowed the previous metric.
Hulu’s statistical methodology is based on counting individual users to accommodate for different release patterns, which is why the streaming service released the first three episodes of the Nicole Kidman series at once. That way, a viewer is counted once, whether they watched one episode, or all three, making the show’s initial success more impressive. However, given the lack of concrete numbers, we still can’t measure the show’s overall success across different releases, titles, and platforms, but if the numbers are as big as Hulu claims, it won’t be long before the show appears on a Nielsen streaming chart.
Nine Perfect Strangers is a show co-written by David E. Kelley, John-Henry Butterworth, and Samantha Strauss, based upon the New York Times best-selling book written by Liane Moriarty. The show takes place at a prestigious health and wellness resort that promises healing and transformation, where nine overly-stressed city dwellers try to get on the path of better living. Watching over and guiding them on their path during a ten-day retreat is the resort’s director, Masha, portrayed by Nicole Kidman, who, as per our previous report, might get an Aquaman spin-off series.
The series also stars Michael Shannon, Luke Evans, Bobby Cannavale, Regina Hall, Samara Weaving, Melvin Gregg, Asher Keddie, Grace Van Petten, Tiffany Bonne, and Manny Jacinto – all responsible for the three-part premiere’s success. The show’s fourth episode, titled Brave New World, will air this Wednesday, in which Nicole Kidman’s Masha reveals some of the resort’s unpleasant secrets, prompting the guests to decide whether to stay or go. Some guests, most notably Heather and Napoleon, disagree on the retreat’s practices, while Carmel opens up to Masha in her one-to-one therapy session.
Tony, played by Bobby Cannavale, reveals more of himself to Frances, while Lars’ motives for coming to the retreat become more and more apparent. Pressure on Nicole Kidman’s character intensifies as one of the guests expresses skepticism about the retreat’s practices and Masha’s decision to take the “healing and transformative” protocol to the next level.
Nine Perfect Strangers is an eight-episode miniseries, with Nicole Kidman, the Lucille Ball-portraying actress from the upcoming Being the Ricardos, as the show’s main lead. It premiered on Hulu on August 18, 2021, with the series finale scheduled to release on September 22 this year. In addition, Nine Perfect Strangers is set to release on Amazon Prime Video outside of the United States and China for all those interested in checking it out.
