The Remarried Empress Sets Disney+ Premiere Record
The Korean romantic epic is the platform's most-viewed local original premiere ever, number one in more than 50 markets, off a webtoon read nearly 3 billion times.
The Remarried Empress has become Disney+'s most-viewed local original premiere of all time, the platform announced.
The Remarried Empress has become the most-viewed local original premiere in Disney+ history, the company announced November 9. [The Remarried Empress becomes the most viewed local original premiere of all time on Disney+ globally — Disney+ release via The Futon Critic (November 9)]
Disney+ measured the record over the premiere's first three days from its November 3 launch. The Korean series ranked as the number one Korean title premiere in more than 50 markets, including the United States, Britain, France and Canada. [The Remarried Empress becomes the most viewed local original premiere of all time on Disney+ globally — Disney+ release via The Futon Critic (November 9)]
The launch was engineered for a record: preview screenings at the Busan International Film Festival sold out, the payoff trailer drew 13 million views in 48 hours, and Disney+ moved the premiere a day early, from November 4 to November 3, as a thank-you to fans. The source material carried its own audience in the door: the Naver webtoon of the same name has been viewed nearly 3 billion times. The series follows Empress Navier and her husband, Emperor Sovieshu of the Eastern Empire, whose strained marriage drives the story; it was adapted by Yeoh Geena and Hyun Choongyeol and directed by Cho Suwon. [The Remarried Empress becomes the most viewed local original premiere of all time on Disney+ globally — Disney+ release via The Futon Critic (November 9)]
Four episodes are streaming now, with two new episodes every Wednesday from November 11 through the finale on November 25. The record matters beyond one title: a local-original premiere outdrawing the global catalog's launches is the strongest evidence yet for the streamers' bet that regional productions, subtitled and marketed worldwide, can open like worldwide productions. Disney+ publishes the ranking, not the raw hours, so the record's scale can't be independently checked, and the piece of the claim worth trusting is the market spread: number one in 50-plus countries is hard to fake and easy to disprove. Nobody has disputed it. [The Remarried Empress becomes the most viewed local original premiere of all time on Disney+ globally — Disney+ release via The Futon Critic (November 9)]
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