Marvel’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier has become the most watched series opener globally on Disney+, the company has revealed.

It underlines the appetite for new content on Disney‘s platform, beating off the openers from Marvel’s WandaVision and the second season of the Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian into second and third place, respectively.

The show follows Sam Wilson (The Falcon) and Bucky Barnes (The Winter Soldier) after the events of the blockbusting Marvel epic Avengers: Endgame, and debuted on 19 March.

Although Disney has not revealed the total number of views, it says the show’s opening weekend is the biggest for a series opener on its streaming platform.

Rather than dropping the whole series at the same time, new episodes are released weekly, meaning viewers have to return every Friday to watch the next episode.

The show’s early success follows on from the season finale of WandaVision, the first Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) story to be adapted into a TV show on the platform.

Disney+ was launched a year ago this week in the UK, and has globally amassed 100 million subscribers, leading the entertainment giant to shift its business model to support streaming.

Earlier on Wednesday, the company said films such as Cruella and Marvel’s Black Widow will now debut on the platform, as it continues to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

The launches of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and WandaVision have paved the way for more Marvel shows to debut on Disney+, including Loki, starring Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson, which starts 11 June.

Related posts:

Bridgerton star hits back at podcast host’s ‘fat’ jibe after Golden Globes appearance Controversial Woody Allen documentary featuring Dylan Farrow’s abuse claims to air on Sky Kim Kardashian breaks down in tears while discussing divorce from Kanye West Drake & Josh star charged with attempted child endangerment Keira Knightley says harassment of women is ‘depressing’ and ‘literally everyone’ has been a victim ‘A cinematic legend’: Bollywood star and ‘tragedy king’ Dilip Kumar dies aged 98 ‘Dreams didn’t make us kings. Dragons did’: HBO teases first look at Game of Thrones prequel At least eight dead in crowd surge during Travis Scott concert Travis Scott sued after crowd surge tragedy – with lawsuit for $1m filed Rebekah Vardy declared ‘war’ after Coleen Rooney’s public accusations Which companies paid the reported $9m to air 30-second ads at this year’s Super Bowl? NFT of sheet music for Beatles’ Hey Jude sells for nearly £60,000