The 10 most-rented movies in the US currently on Apple’s iTunes store, nine were released last year.
Among the list is the Best Picture Parasite that won the Oscar, the word-of-mouth hit Knives Out, and the Disney sequel Frozen II.
In 10th place is a film made nine years ago: Contagion. The film was directed by Steven Soderbergh in 201. The director is enjoying the latest attention and interest amid the worldwide coronavirus outbreak. It was the 15th most-rented film on Jan. 29 on iTunes. One year ago, it wasn’t even in the top 100.
It’s obvious why Contagion is getting renewed popularity amid the coronavirus outbreak.point 194 | The star-studded movie is the story of a mysterious and deadly new flu virus that hits the world in a matter of weeks, killing millions.point 306 |
The classic Soderbergh procedural follows health care workers and investigators with the CDC and WHO trying to contain the outbreak as social order crumbles around them.point 144 | point 144 | 1
“It was very deliberately designed to be a cautionary film,” producer Michael Shamberg told BuzzFeed News in a phone interview, noting the many experts who consulted on the movie. “We got the science right.”
A spokesperson for Warner Bros., the film’s distributor, told BuzzFeed News that the movie got the number 10 spot on the iTunes charts, and number 21 on Google Play and is trending on Amazon too.
Contagion was the 270th most-watched WB film in December. So far in 2020, it is the second most-watched.
“A writer/producer I’m working with emailed me yesterday that at least 10 of his friends have rewatched it,” said Shamberg, who has served as an adviser to BuzzFeed Motion Pictures.
More than 30 users have written reviews for the movie since Jan. 1 on its IMDB page.
“Excellent movie to watch during this coronavirus season,” one reviewer said.
“The movie does a good job of showing how a virus can spread from little situations and contacts such as a doorknob or a wine glass,” said another. “Hopefully I am not writing this as a future dead man due to this virus.”
The movie was searched online many times since late January, according to Google Trends.
The film’s writer, Scott Z. Burns, told Fortune magazine last month he had been watching the coronavirus outbreak with interest. Burns’ father died from an illness over the weekend and was not available for an interview.
Burns said he and Soderbergh were most interested in using the virus to explore “how the preexisting conditions in our society make us susceptible to fear as well as the virus.”
“The similarities between our contagion and the coronavirus are immaterial, accidental, and not that important,” Burns told Fortune. “What is more important and accurate is the societal response and the spread of fear and the knock-on effects of that. That is proving to be accurate.”
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