Nimona was released last week on Netflix to universal praise. The film had critics in love and has become one of the highest-rated films of the year, beating out Disney’s offerings so far. Unfortunately, that hasn’t translated to astronomically high viewing figures with Nimona barely scraping into the Top 10.
It landed on the charts in ninth place, not the best start for the animation that Netflix swooped in to save after Disney discarded it. Films like Nimona come with their own pre-existing fandom, ones that love the source material, in this case, the original graphic novels written by ND Stevenson that the film is based on, but it appears to be struggling to bring in new fans.
Nimona was viewed a total of 5.5 million hours between the dates of June 26 to July 2, which is actually more hours viewed than the two films placed above it, Sniper: Assassins End (5.4 million) and Ghosts of the Abyss (4.9 million). Since Netflix rejigged how it measures its Top 10 to factor in views (the number of people watching a film or show rather than the total hours) Nimona comes in below these with 3.2 million views compared to Sniper and Ghosts’ 3,400,000 and 3,300,000 respectively. The reason Nimona may have more hours viewed is that it is roughly an extra 15 to 20 minutes longer than the above films.
These numbers are a little odd given that FlixPatrol reported that it had landed in the Top 10 list in 58 countries around the world. But then again, this may not be enough to crack the Global Top 10.
The animated adventure received fantastic scores on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 93 percent rating on the Tomatometer and an audience rating of 94 percent. Critics loved the chemistry between the two leads; Nimona, voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz, and Ballister, voiced by Riz Ahmed, as well as the addition of Try Guys member Eugene Lee Yang as the voice of Ballister’s boyfriend and fellow knight, Ambrosius Goldenloin.
The film was released at the end of Pride Month, a smart move considering its strong LGBTQ+ themes with the relationship between Ballister and Ambrosius, and Nimona being an amorphous, shapeshifting being, who is no one thing and is feared because people cannot define what she is, an allegory for trans and queer-identifying individuals for sure.
It is a shame that such a gem of a film has not hit a larger audience, but with reviews still pouring in saying nothing but good things about it, perhaps we could see a rise in the number of people logging in to watch this unique, fun, and heartfelt story. You never know, with enough views we could get a sequel.
You can watch Nimona now streaming on Netflix.