'Barbie' Star's Critical and Commercial Dud Isn't Doing Much Better on Streaming in America

1 week ago 11

Published Feb 18, 2026, 8:50 PM EST

A theatrical run still accounts for the bulk of a film’s earnings, especially for spectacle made to be seen on a big screen, but it isn’t the end of the road anymore. An indie drama, a horror title, or a mid-budget adult comedy built on character rather than scale, for instance, can stumble in cinemas and still find a real audience once it hits streaming. A recent Jamie Lee Curtis co-starrer just did the same. At the same time, it’s now starting to show signs of struggle on streaming as well.

What matters now is whether streaming momentum can reframe the title: broaden the audience beyond the opening curiosity (it came to streaming on February 5), and keep it in rotation long enough for the right viewers to actually discover it. The movie has been getting genuine international traction, but without a solid U.S. spike for the last week. In the past week, for instance, on Disney+, it hit #1 in 23 countries on February 12 and #1 in 22 countries on February 13 (U.S. not included). And even as the daily ranking naturally tapers after that initial wave, that pattern still shows durability because it is now expanding to more streamers.

According to FlixPatrol, Ella McCay ranked #9 on Disney+ worldwide as of February 18 and is now competing more prominently on the platform. In the U.S., the movie’s hold looks stronger on the more adult-skewing side, because it’s #5 on Hulu’s movie chart. Not to mention, on Rakuten TV, Ella McCay has just begun to show up in the Top 10 rankings, starting at #10. However, since the drop in rankings on both Disney+ and Hulu is consistent (it was at #1 on Hulu on February 12), odds are that its ride on streaming might be over (for now).

Why ‘Ella McCay’s Streaming Run in the U.S. Looks Stronger on Hulu Than on Disney+

Ella McCay’s split performance is actually logical once you consider what the movie is. A talkier, character-led political dramedy that’s more likely to sustain on a service where viewers go looking for adult movies. While on Disney+, it’s competing in countries other than the U.S., likely because of the names associated with the movie (Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Ayo Edebiri, Kumail Nanjiani). The data reflects that, too. Disney+ shows a broader international burst and then normalization across the week, while Hulu shows a steadier U.S. hold in the Top 5.

The theatrical numbers for Ella McCay were not too good for a film with a reported $35M production budget, though. There was a $2.02M opening weekend and a worldwide total of around $4.0–$4.6M. Reception hasn’t been too good either and reflects that same theatrical rake — 23% critics score and 57% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and 5.1/10 on IMDb — which usually translates into a faster post-launch drop-off unless the platform placement keeps feeding it to the right audience.

Ella McCay is available to stream on Disney+. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.