Will Ferrell Rachel McAdams Netflix Eurovision Movie Fire Saga

It’s been out less than a week. But even at such an early stage in its run, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga is shaping up to be Will Ferrell’s biggest hit in several years… albeit in living rooms rather than at cinema box offices.

When it comes to sharing exact viewing figures, Netflix is always rather cagey. However, based on strong online buzz, rankings in Netflix’s top ten charts and high amounts of repeat viewings, Forbes has estimated that the tale of Fire Saga’s song contest misadventures has become the most successful Will Ferrell vehicle since The LEGO Movie in 2014.

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga — Box Office Success

Of course, The Story Of Fire Saga was released directly on Netflix’s streaming platform. Therefore, it’s hard to establish how it would have fared with a traditional theatrical release.

Forbes speculates that a picture with “a big heart, some earned laughs, catchy songs and buzzy turns from McAdams and Stevens (plus winning extended cameos from Pierce Brosnan and Demi Lovato)” could follow a similar box office trajectory to crowd-pleasing musicals like La La Land ($446.1 million), Mamma Mia! ($615.7 million) and The Greatest Showman ($435 million). The publication observes that live-action musicals are one of the “more bankable” sub-genres alongside superhero and high-concept horror films.

Netflix will announce viewership numbers if they are big enough, like it did with Sandra Bullock’s Bird Box or Jennifer Anniston and Adam Sandler’s Murder Mystery.

Eurovision movie tops Netflix chart

The streaming giant may not release exact figures, but its “top ten” charts do provide some indication as to how well a production is performing. And Eurovision Song Contest: Fire Saga is cracking the rankings globally. From Eurovision’s European heartland to New Zealand and the US, the film has spent several days inside both the top ten movies and the overall top ten rankings in multiple countries.

In the U.S, Forbes reports that it’s knocked the raunchy sleeper hit 365 Days off the top spot. The surprise Polish smash has spent most of June at the number one position. But from Friday through to Sunday, the Eurovision movie held a tight grip on first place.

And, using its own formula, Forbes has calculated that the Netflix three-day box office charts from 26 to 28 June would look like this:

  1. Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga – 30 points
  2. 365 Days – 26 points
  3. Athlete A – 24 points
  4. The Nut Job – 22 points
  5. Feel the Beat – 17 points
  6. Love – 16 points
  7. Lost Bullet – 12 points

Have you seen Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga? Is its success deserved? Let us know in the comments.

Follow all of our Netflix ‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga’ news.

28 Comments
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Kris Smith
Kris Smith
4 years ago

I really want Netflix to do a stand alone movie or mockumentary about Dan Stevens’ character Alexander Lemtov.

AdD
AdD
4 years ago

This movie needs to go the hell away.

dxi
dxi
4 years ago

That doesn’t say it’s a good movie though. 365 Days is getting trashed everywhere.

Xyz
Xyz
4 years ago

Yikes :/ Netflix is really not well these days

Dawid
Dawid
4 years ago

As a someone from Poland, I would love anything that takes attention from this “365” pron called movie by some people

Por No
Por No
4 years ago
Reply to  Dawid

Are you lost baby girl?

Nudiecrudi
Nudiecrudi
4 years ago

One of the most horrible movies I ve ever watched
2 hours of completely wasted time.
Without any doubt.
Mediocre, cheap, bad written, stupid, supposed to be a comedy but just bunch of cliche.
Now I understand why wiwiblogg promoted this movie. For the cameo
Thanks God Italy wasn’t mentioned at all.

poe-tay-toe-chips
poe-tay-toe-chips
4 years ago

I think they reason they used a 12-point voting in the semis was to add dramatic affect so that Sigrit would be more surprised that other countries actually liked the performance, and also because in the movie they didn’t show the final voting sequence (we don’t even learn who won in the end) but they still wanted to show Americans how 12 point voting works so they pushed it back to the semis.

Gary Adams
Gary Adams
4 years ago

So, Will Ferrell says he’s a fan of Eurovision which really does come across in this Netflix exclusive but it could have been a lot better. A couple of the songs were very Eurovision 1970s and looked out of place on the stage of Eurovision 2019. If the idea of the movie is to pander to Eurovision fans there’s a lot to keep us happy but niggly and silly mistakes made during the contest parts of the film pulled the fantasy from under me. Awarding points in the semi final……… no, and seeing the United Kingdom on the semi final… Read more »

Ana
Ana
4 years ago
Reply to  Gary Adams

To be honest most of the songs were even more modern than todays ESC songs lol, have no idea what you are talking about

Gary Adams
Gary Adams
4 years ago
Reply to  Ana

I did say a couple of the songs, not all the songs. Hit My Itch and Come and Play are both dated and, although not played at the contest itself, Jaja Ding Dong is hardly contemporary. The rest though are pretty up to date and a couple of them could easily have done well in a real Eurovision Song Contest, but I think I already said that.

Juney
Juney
4 years ago
Reply to  Gary Adams

Did you notice the last names as will? Both having Erik in the beginning meaning their dads name meaning that both of their dads names is Erik.

Kris Smith
Kris Smith
4 years ago
Reply to  Gary Adams

I do feel if Double Trouble would stand a good chance of winning at Eurovision. Knowing that so many film’s releases have been pushed back, ‘Husavik’ may see an Oscar nomination for best song…

Gary Adams
Gary Adams
4 years ago
Reply to  Kris Smith

Personally, I’m finding Coolin’ with da Homies is sounding better every time I listen to it. Double Trouble, Hysavik and In the Mirror are all good songs. I also love watching Lion of Love. The performance and the lyrics are still makings laugh.

Hada
Hada
4 years ago

They should’ve shown the Eurovision contestants doing cameos in the credits with the little flags, as well as William Lee Adams and Graham Norton (who was mentioned but not shown). The coolest part of movies based on real life things is when they point out the real people in the end!!! And it would’ve cost them nothing! They lost a golden opportunity there. I loved the cameos BTW, and since I’m a fan of Salvador, I’m glad they had him sing his song. Unpopular opinion: My favorite original song was Coolin’ WIth Da Homies. I think the movie was like… Read more »

Denis
Denis
4 years ago

I don’t think it would have made that well in Box-office. “Mamma Mia” was a bigger hit in Europe than U.S. And the reason it did well was because it was a juke-box musical with songs from ABBA, songs people know and can sing along with. Eurovision is almost unknown in US, they don’t know the concept. Songs are unknown. And despite what you think not even Farrell is that hit-factor any more. Wasn’t he on Forbes list of top 10 Overrated actors, meaning that they get paid a lot but doesn’t get the money back? At best it probably… Read more »

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago

 It looks like many Wiwibloggs commenters disagree with me here, but here it goes: Was it a giant mockery of Eurovision? Definitely not. Was it a good movie? Not really, either.   “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga” tells a story of an incompetent Icelandic duo – the eponymous Fire Saga – who, in the wake of extraordinary concurrence of events, end up going to Eurovision. Expectedly, the plot is full of clichés (if not made up entirely of them), which would be fine if the film had a lot of well-written jokes to make up for it,… Read more »

Last edited 4 years ago by Skiwalko
Kosey
Kosey
4 years ago
Reply to  Skiwalko

Skiwalko, what a great review! I am not much of a film buff and I don’t know the ins and outs of how they are made. I felt like there was a lot of irony and sarcasm in the movie and I enjoy that type of comedy, so I found myself laughing a lot during the film (I realize this won’t be the same for everyone). Also, I never got bored during the whole 2 hours – maybe it’s because I’m a fan of Eurovision but I found it a sweet and endearing film with its heart in the right… Read more »

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
4 years ago
Reply to  Kosey

I’m probably between Skiwalko and yourself when it comes to my thoughts on the film. I didn’t mind a lot of it and it certainly didn’t drag but, at the same time, I don’t recall there being that many jokes or actual funny moments (with it being a comedy). Watching it, there was enough for me to enjoy myself as a Eurovision fan and I’d imagine there was enough there for Will Ferrell fans to also enjoy. Not bad, really.

Colin
Colin
4 years ago
Reply to  Skiwalko

Really well written and elaborated review, Skiwalko. I love when people go in detail on what they loved / disliked in certain films. In some way I’d agree with you – the film is full of tropes. Quirky underdogs who suddenly get the full spotlight despite actively ruining their own chances – yes, we’ve seen that plenty of times. An awkward manchild who somehow is the dream-guy of the beautiful (and somewhat more socially adept) woman – yes, we’ve seen that too. Mostly in Happy Madison films. The humor might not always be top-notch, but again, it’s very Farrell /… Read more »

Last edited 4 years ago by Colin
Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago
Reply to  Colin

Unfortunately, I felt no connection between the main heroes. First of all, I don’t think the deadpan, grumpy attitude of Lars and the over-enthusiastic, supportive nature of Sigrit were a great match. We weren’t given any reason to like these characters and their personalities were so far apart from one another it was difficult for me to believe in their relationship. There was no backstory to show how Fire Saga came to be and the only piece of information communicated in the first act was that Sigrit is really fond of Lars (for some reason). They are so undeveloped you… Read more »

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago
Reply to  Colin

(first comment got filtered) Unfortunately, I felt no connection between the main heroes. First of all, I don’t think the deadpan, grumpy attitude of Lars and the over-enthusiastic, supportive nature of Sigrit were a great match. We weren’t given any reason to like these characters and their personalities were so far apart from one another it was difficult for me to believe in their relationship. There was no backstory to show how Fire Saga came to be and the only piece of information communicated in the first act was that Sigrit is really fond of Lars (for some reason). They… Read more »

Last edited 4 years ago by Skiwalko
Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago
Reply to  Colin

I imagine the Spain semi-final thing was indeed deliberate…and for the benefit of Americans unfamiliar with the contest. They’ve just heard of it, and only just understood it as a contest for European countries…to leave out all of the prominent most famous ones would only confuse them. A theory.

Kosey
Kosey
4 years ago

This is a feel-good movie for a general audience. I notice the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is much better than the reviewers score and this makes sense to me. It is a fun, sweet, enjoyable movie. Perfect for the general viewer in these uncertain times.

Alex
Alex
4 years ago

It might work better in USA than Europe maybe. Will Ferrell’s name might help.
The movie was only one day in Top 10 in my country, and wasn’t even close to take down unbeatable 365 days. Only German hit Dark did it recently.

Colin
Colin
4 years ago

It’s a sweet film. Currently, it’s my 7th favorite from 34 of 2020 films I’ve seen. Sure, part of that is due to the lack of general quality since most cinematic releases have been heavily delayed. But the part of the reason is because the film is so unpretentious and enjoyable. The soundtrack is a highlight! I watched the other mentioned film too and I didn’t like it at all. It has a toxic view of romance and a very amateurish script.

Last edited 4 years ago by Colin
Erasmus
Erasmus
4 years ago

It was fine… I thought it was going to be much worse, but it was pleasant, with few really cool moments such as the final song and song-along. But I rarely laughed (I am however really a person who really rarely laughs watching comedies). It’s nice to see it doing so well though..

Lollipop ESC
Lollipop ESC
4 years ago

Yes, the good rates are deserved. That movie is made so warm-hearted and packed full with great music …I don’t even care about the ‘dick jokes’ ….that movie is a really “feel good film”. The critics were dead wrong to rate it so bad …..the viewers show that they looooove that film all the way (me too).