During the current worldwide pandemic, movie studios are no longer providing box-office figures because theaters have been shut down around the nation and the world. Because we are less interested in the actual figures themselves and more interested in what people are watching over the weekends, each week we will dive into Most Streamed and Bestseller Lists on Fandango, iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu to pinpoint the weekend’s most watched films.

There are a couple of interesting developments in this week’s VOD/Rental charts. First up, Vin Diesel’s Bloodshot exited the “theatrical window,” where it was being offered for $20, and entered the rental window, where it is being offered for around $5, and it shot to the top spot on the Fandango VOD charts, and it is number two on the iTunes rental chart. Ford vs. Ferrari, likewise, jumped to the top spot on iTunes now that it’s being offered for the rental price.

The more interesting news is that Arkansas — a low-budget noir starring Liam Hemsworth and Vince Vaughn — enters the VOD charts at number three, and the iTunes rental chart at number five. This is significant, because Lionsgate did not do a lot of heavy promotion of the picture. Arkansas is succeeding based on reviews (mixed, though they are) and director Clark Duke (Hot Tub Time Machine) is also making the rounds online. I liked the movie, but more importantly, it’s great to see a movie like this break out on VOD. I don’t know if it’s because there are fewer options, or if it was because of Liam Hemsworth’s social media following, or if a lot of viewers just really wanted to see a Southern-fried noir set in Arkansas, but it’s great to see a film like this break out. Studios may want to revisit some of those films that were supposed to debut at SXSW, like Arkansas, and see if there is some VOD potential in them during the pandemic.

Otherwise on the VOD charts, the romantic drama The Photograph held on and jumped a spot this weekend, Gretel & Hansel jumped to number four, and Justice League Dark: Apokolips War debuted at number five. Trolls World Tour (#6), Sonic the Hedgehog (#10), and Bad Boys for Life (#11) have finally loosened their grip on the top five.

Interestingly, the horror movie The Lodge debuted at number nine this weekend. It got a small, limited release in February, but solid reviews have helped the Sundance hit succeed on the VOD charts, even while it is currently available for streaming on Hulu. The most popular movies over on Hulu, meanwhile, remain about the same: Parasite, Isn’t It Romantic, Lego Movie 2 and Crazy, Stupid, Love.

The most popular movies on Netflix this weekend are an odd assortment. A 2017 Jamie Foxx film, Sleepless, is weirdly enormously popular on Netflix. I don’t really understand it, because it was not well liked by critics (25 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) or audiences (37 percent audience score) on its initial release, and it didn’t do much at the box office, either. We live in strange times.

It is not surprising, however, to see Michelle Obama’s feel-good doc Becoming debut this weekend at number two. This is exactly the kind of uplifting documentary that the country needs right now. It’s beloved by critics (92 percent on RT), while I am guessing that the audience score (59 percent) is being manipulated by partisans.

Gerard Butler — king of Netflix — hangs on at number three with Den of Thieves, Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction maintains position in the top five for the third weekend in a row, and Terry Crews’ John Henry, which debuted in theaters in January, has now arrived on Netflix and it sits at number five. The Tomatometer on John Henry is zero percent.

Finally, next weekend will see the release of Scoob!, as Warner Bros. attempts to duplicate the VOD success of Trolls World Tour.

Source: Netflix, Fandango, Hulu, iTunes

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The final episode of SNL At Home on Saturday featured parents at their breaking point. Tina Fey joined Weekend Update to bemoan teaching her children Latin and offering a prayer for mothers, but the rest of the episode featured moments where parents were looking for any sort of relief.

The first of which is above, a music video simply titled ‘Song For The Kids’ that features parents justifying giving their children anywhere from a little bit of booze to somewhere just short of blackout drunk. Billed as a public service announcement, it featured a clearly false claim from Child Services, which could curiously not be reached for comment. Accompanying the singing was images of (presumably) the cast members’ children getting drunk, with bottles of liquor and beer strewn about as they party like they’re old enough to remember 1999.

“We used to give kids whiskey to help them fall asleep,” one line went. “So a teeny tiny White Claw is just a babysitter on the cheap.”

It was all clearly filmed with mocktails and beer bottles filled with water — and it’s actually kind of cute — but it’s some clearly bad advice from desperate people who have been trapped inside teaching and taking care of their children in captivity for more than two months now.

Later on, ‘Brandon’ was the star of a sketch where a lame dad — Mikey Day — got pranked by his son. The sketch started with the boy loading a Nerf gun and shooting his dad, then escalated to putting thumbtacks on his toilet seat and changing all the contacts in his phone to Gigi Hadid.

The funniest bit of the sketch was changing his Zoom background to a picture of his boss’s daughter, if only for the space work from Day and Kenan Thompson’s extremely weirded out boss. The lesson, if anything, from the night was that parents need even more praise on this Mother’s Day weekend, and everyone needs just a little bit more space these days.

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SNL At Home‘s final Weekend Update of the season had the usual jokes about Donald Trump and current events as it has throughout the somewhat interrupted and unusual season given the global pandemic on, but Saturday’s episode also had an appearance from one of the most notable Update hosts in the show’s history.

The Colin Jost-Michael Che-hosted Update had a guest spot from former host Tina Fey on Saturday, bringing some gripes about life in quarantine and a special message for mothers on the eve of Mother’s Day.

Perhaps the best joke of the Update came from Che, who talked about how the pandemic has taken a toll on everyone, some more than others.

“I lost my grandmother,” Che said. “Colin, you lost J Crew.”

The sketch transitioned into an appearance from Fey, who used to host the segment back in her SNL days. Fey seemed irked by having to make up Latin for her children to learn, but did say she’s learned some life hacks while in quarantine.

“Did you know that if you’re baking cookies and you run out of flower you can just go to bed?” Fey said. “That’s right you can just shut up and go to bed.”

She then offered a prayer for mothers, which was a modified Serenity Prayer featuring some timely pandemic-related lines.

The episode also featured the conclusion of a fundraiser where someone donated money to write a joke for Che to say, though he definitely got the last laugh in the bit.

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