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Streaming: 'Rings of Power' accrues 1.2 billion minutes viewed, 'Hocus Pocus 2' debuts on Disney+

Yahoo Finance Live anchors examine the latest installment in the streaming wars as the Lord of the Rings series "Rings of Power" outpaces "The House of the Dragon" Nielsen viewership and the long-awaited "Hocus Pocus" sequel premieres on Disney+.

Video transcript

RACHELLE AKUFFO: Nielsen has released its list of top 10 streaming shows from the first week of the month. And Amazon's "Rings of Power," my favorite, has come out on top, beating out "Game of Thrones" prequel series, "House of the Dragon." Now this actually marks the first time the two fantasy behemoths have faced off. And of course, the "Lord of the Rings" prequel series came in with 1.3 billion minutes viewed, while its dragon-filled counterpart was watched for a total of 781 million minutes.

Now, to be fair, I do love both of these shows. And it does help that "Rings of Power" gets a head start because it comes out Friday morning at midnight, whereas we see the "House of Dragon" comes on, on Sundays at 9 o'clock. So a little bit of a headstart, but obviously, a very strong contender here in "Lord of the Rings."

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DAVE BRIGGS: Yeah, you kind of watch it on a Friday night when people are out doing their thing, and Saturday night in college football. I'm going to go with-- I definitely think "House of Dragon" is going to come out on top. But that's just my sense of its pop culture relevance. The conversation seems to be driven more of "House of Dragon" than it does "Rings of Power." But I haven't seen either one. I'm kind of--

SEANA SMITH: I was going to say--

DAVE BRIGGS: --the outlier here.

SEANA SMITH: --I haven't seen either one. Rachelle, you are the best person to talk about this. I feel like I hear a lot more about "House of Dragon." That's just strictly anecdotally. But from-- you love both. So if you had to bet, which one do you think really has the staying power here?

RACHELLE AKUFFO: Well, what's funny is I think "House of Dragon" gets more chat because people are so angry with it, and sort of its treatment of the book and how it sort of varied a little bit, whereas I think most of it when it comes to the "Rings of Power," people love it. People are happy. Some controversy about casting, but I honestly think "Rings of Power" is the one that's going to stay on top. It's just-- it's too good. It's too good.

SEANA SMITH: All right, guys, while we're talking about streaming, we have to talk about a big event, at least for me, today, as we head into the spooky Halloween season. Disney sequel to the fan favorite "Hocus Pocus" hitting Disney+ today. It's a lot of fun. Huge fans out there. They've been waiting almost 30 years for this, for the remake here, or the sequel. I've watched the trailer. I'm a little conflicted just in terms of how much I like it. I'm a huge fan of the original.

Sarah Jessica Parker is going to be-- is in this movie. I think it's going to be a huge hit for Disney. One of our producers was saying that her family had actually gotten Disney+ and also bought an account for another family member because of all the hype leading up to this video. So these numbers, Dave, could be very impressive.

DAVE BRIGGS: I don't get it. I'm the guy in Big saying I'm shocked by the excitement for this film. But I will say the special effects have come a long way. Just gauging Rotten Tomatoes sentiment, 63% from the critics, 68% from the audience. Neither are stellar numbers. They're going to need some magic in order to help at the box office, Rachelle.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: I mean, it's tough to live up to something that's been, like, a favorite for a lot of people. And when you have that much of a distance between the original movie and the sequel, it's tough. But there is also going to be a Broadway musical of "Hocus Pocus." I'll be all in. Good family watching. I'm all here for it.

SEANA SMITH: Me, too, Rachelle. I'm right there with you.