In Just 1 Week, Netflix's New 100-Minute Release Hits 1 Billion Minutes - MCE Notices | California State Portal

Sony Pictures’ new sports comedy GOAT truly proved its title on streaming. While it did okay in theaters, it has become a true slam dunk on streaming.

GOAT hit theaters on Feb. 13, where it had a decent theatrical run, before heading to streaming. Per Sony’s agreement with Netflix, the latter was awarded the first window to release the animated comedy, which debuted on May 14. Aside from instantly topping the charts, GOAT achieved humongous numbers in its first week, according to the Nielsen charts.

The sports comedy topped the Movies Top 10 charts instantly, and got 1.073 billion minutes in the week between May 11 and May 17. It shot past Netflix’s original movie Remarkably Bright Creatures with 871 million minutes viewed, and the record-breaking Swapped, with 514 million minutes viewed. Overall, the Top 10 featured seven Netflix films.

GOAT Is the Perfect Space Jam Replacement

Animated films have had lots of success in recent years, even those outside of Disney and Pixar’s reach. Netflix’s Swapped was the perfect Zootopia replacement, with Michael B. Jordan voicing the main character. And GOAT serves as the next best thing since Michael Jordan’s Space Jam.

GOAT is set in a world of anthropomorphic animals, and follows Will Haris, a young goat Will Harris, who, on his sixth birthday, aspires to be like his idol, black panther Jett Fillmore, the greatest of all time at a basketball-like sport known as roarball.

The film debuted during the same weekend with Margot Robbie’s steamy “Wuthering Heights” adaptation, but it managed to score $195 million worldwide on a budget estimated between $80 million and $90 million. While that isn’t exactly a favorable number, considering marketing and distribution costs, it wasn’t a huge failure. Its success, as highlighted by the Nielsen charts, thrived on streaming, too, after a midly successful digital run.

GOAT also received fantastic reviews, holding a Certified Fresh 84% rating from critics, who praised the fantastic voice cast, animation, and story, and a Verified Hot 92% approval from audiences.

GOAT Had a Star-Studded Voice Cast

Image via Sony Pictures Animation

The animated sports film had Tyree Dillihay at the helm, with a script by Teddy Riley and Aaron Buchsbaum. The movie was loosely based on Chris Tougas’ Funky Dunks, and had a story by Nicolas Curcio and Peter Chiarelli.

Stranger Things‘ Caleb McLaughlin, who played Lucas in all five seasons of the sci-fi show, led the voice cast as Will Harris, and reunited with his co-star, David Harbour, who played Jim Hopper. The star-studded cast featured the voices of Gabrielle Union, Aaron Pierre, Nicola Coughlan, Nick Kroll, Jenifer Lewis, Patton Oswalt, Jelly Roll, Wayne Knight, Adam Pally, Jennifer Hudson, Sherry Cola, Eduardo Franco, Andrew Santino, and Bobby Lee, alongside basketball played Stephen Curry, who also produced the sports film.

GOAT is streaming on Netflix.