Jenna Ortega’s latest project is drawing heavy traffic…
The 20-year-old Mexican and Puerto Rican actress’ series Wednesday landed at the top of Nielsen’s U.S. streaming charts in its first week on Netflix with a massive 5.9B minutes viewed.
That’s the second highest weekly viewing total for a streaming title since the beginning of 2020 — just behind Stranger Things(which generated over 7B minutes viewed in the week following the release of Season 4 Volume 1).
The impressive numbers for Wednesday almost make it easy to look past the four other titles that hit over 1B minutes viewed the week of November 21 to November 27.
Dead to Me came in at No. 2 on the chart with 1.46B viewing minutes. The Crown and 1899tied for third place with 1.1B minutes viewed. The film Slumberland also notched 1B viewing minutes. Netflix also took home the subsequent two spots on the chart with Manifest and NCIS.
Here’s the full Top 10, with streaming service, title, number of episodes (“1″=feature film) and minutes of viewing:
The 19-year-old Puerto Rican and Mexicam American actress and new Scream queen has boarded Lionsgate and Point Grey’s Miller’s Girl opposite Martin Freeman.
The film reps the directorial debut from writer-director Jade HalleyBartlett, whose screenplay for the project ranked on the 2016 Black List.
In Miller’s Girl, a creative writing assignment yields complex results between a teacher and his talented student. Point Grey has been attached to the project ever since it arrived on the Black List.
Mary-Margaret Kunze is producing with Point Grey.
Erin Westerman, President of Production for the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, tells Deadline, “While we are excited for the movie to speak for itself, the level of talent assembled for this special film is a testament to Jade, whose screenplay lures you in with her dazzling voice. And then eats you alive.”
The film is currently shooting in Georgia. Lionsgate is handling global sales.
Ortega will next star in the title role of the Tim BurtonNetflix series Wednesday, centering on the Addams Family character.
In January she starred in the $140M-global grossing Scream and is set to reprise her role in the hit franchise’s sixth installment.
She recently wrapped production on the crime thriller Finest Kinddirected by Oscar winner Brian Helgeland, was last seen starring in A24’sX and HBO’s The Fallout.
Netflix has revealed the first look at “Wednesday,” the upcoming Addams Family television series starring the famous clan’s daughter, with the 19-year-old Puerto Rican and Mexican American actress and Scream 5 star in the title role.
First created by Charles Addams for a series of New Yorker cartoons, the Addams Family is a bizarre aristocratic clan with an obsession of the macabre and a complete lack of concern regarding how others perceive them.
Following their creation, the characters grew in popularity after a 1964 sitcom fleshed out their personalities, and have since starred in two live-action theatrical films, two animated series, a Broadway musical and two animated films.
The only daughter of parents Gomez and Morticia, Wednesday was depicted in the original sitcom as the most sweet-natured of the family.
However, the 1991 Barry Sonnenfeld-directed film adaptation changed her personality to be much more deadpan and sadistic, with Christina Ricci’s portrayal in the film making her one of the most popular characters in the franchise.
“Wednesday” spins-off the character as she attends a boarding school Nevermore Academy, where she develops psychic powers and investigates a supernatural killing spree connected to her own family’s history.
In addition to Ortega as Wednesday, the rest of the Addams Family will make appearances in the show. Catherine Zeta-Jones is part of the main cast as matriarch Morticia, while Victor Dorobantu plays the disembodied hand servant of the family, Thing. Isaac Ordonez plays Wednesday’s brother Pugsley in a recurring role, while George Burcea plays the family manservant Lurch. Luis Guzmán will guest star in the series as Wednesday’s father Gomez.
The main cast of the show includes Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Percy HynesWhite,Gwendoline Christie, Thora Birch, Hunter Doohan, Joy Sunday, Emma Myers, Georgie Farmer, Naomi Ogawa and Moosa Mostafa. In a nod to the ’90s films, Ricci will also appear in an unconfirmed role.
Al Gough and Miles Millar, the creators of the Superman series Smallville, serve as showrunners and executive producers for the series.
Tim Burton will also executive produce and direct the majority of episodes, with Gandja Monteiro and James Marshall serving as additional directors.
The series is produced by MGM Television for Netflix.
The 65-year-old Puerto Rican actor has joined the cast of Miles Away, an upcoming indie from writer, director and producer Jacquelyn Quinones.
Produced by Quinones, Miles Away is a dramedy that explores a day in the life of a rideshare driver, with short vignettes of passengers all feeding into the story of the driver learning to deal with no money, a thankless job and a sister with mental illness.
Andre Royo, Noel Gugliemi, Alberto Frezza, Norma Maldonado, Henri Esteve, Jennifer Bartels, Eddie Martinez, Jessica Sarah Flaum, Marilyn Camacho and Charo Toledo round out the cast of the Puerto Rican filmmaker’s feature directorial debut, in which she also appears.
“Excited to be part of this project. Jackie Quinones is a new voice for a new generation. Her work personifies the social and cultural diversity reminiscent of the now and necessary for the future,” said Guzmán. “She is an insightful creative, her work transcends stereotypes. Miles Away finds a unique harmony toeing the line of conventional storytelling and inventive hybrid genre narratives focusing on social change.”
Guzmán is an Independent Spirit Award nominee who has garnered nearly 160 screen credits over the course of his five-decades and change in entertainment.
He can currently be seen in the Starz drama Hightownand will next appear in Tim Burton’s Netflix series Wednesday, among other projects.
The actor is also known for turns films like Top Five, We’re the Millers, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, He’s Just Not That Into You, Yes Man, School for Scoundrels, Fast Food Nation, Waiting…, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, Anger Management, Punch-Drunk Love, Boogie Nightsand Traffic, among many others.
Additional television credits include Ultra City Smiths, Shameless, Godfather of Harlem, Code Black, Roadies,Narcosand Oz.
The 18-year-old Puerto Rican and Mexican American actress has landed the title role in Wednesday, Tim Burton’s live-action Addams Family series for Netflix focused on the iconic character of Wednesday Addams.
The coming-of-age comedy, written bySmallvillecreators Al Goughand Miles Millarand to be directed by Burton, is a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ (Ortega) years as a student at Nevermore Academy. That’s where she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships.
The YA series, Wednesday Addams’ first solo vehicle, marks Burton’s first live-action show and his television directing debut.
Ortega is taking over the role from Christina Ricci, the actress most closely associated the character, who played Wednesday in both feature films, The Addams Familyin 1991 and sequel Addams Family Valuesin 1993.
Burton executive produces with Gough and Millar, who will serve as showrunners on the series. Wednesday is produced by MGM Television, which controls the underlying rights to the IP.
Ortega burst onto the scene in 2014 with two major recurring roles on Fox’s Rakeand the CW’s Jane the Virgin. The latter, where Ortega played younger version of the title character, put her on the map, and Ortega quickly landed her first series lead role on Disney Channel’sStuck In the Middle.
A lead role on Season 2 of Netflix’s Youfollowed. On the streamer, Ortega also recently co-starred in hit feature comedy Yes Day.
Her recent feature credits also include leads inThe Falloutand the upcomingScream.
That’s the second highest weekly viewing total for a streaming title since the beginning of 2020 — just behind Stranger Things (which generated over 7B minutes viewed in the week following the release of Season 4 Volume 1).
