Netflix 's new superhero series "Jupiter's Legacy " is the streamer's most popular title right now.- It bodes well for creator Mark Millar's Netflix plans, which he gave updates on in a Thursday blog post.
- Netflix bought Millar's comics company
Millarworld in 2017.
Netflix's new superhero
The show's creator, comics writer Mark Millar, is already busy planning the next installments in his superhero universe for the
The series was the No. 1 show or movie in the US on Monday for the third straight day (Netflix's daily lists of its most popular content reflect the previous 24 hours and count a view if an account watches at least two minutes of a title). Millar tweeted regularly over the weekend that the series had surged to No.1 throughout the world, including in Italy and Brazil.
It's not uncommon for a new Netflix series to dominate its popularity rankings. But the early success of "Jupiter's Legacy" suggests good things for Millar's future plans for Millarworld, his comics company that Netflix acquired in 2017.
During a recent interview, Millar told Insider that he had plans for the next five years of Millarworld at Netflix mapped out on a board in his office.
"We have a list of things that are top priorities, and 'Jupiter's Legacy' and 'The Magic Order' were at the top of the list," Millar said.
Millar announced in a Thursday blog post that "The Magic Order," based on Millar and artist Oliver Coipel's 2018 comic of the same name, was back in active development. Netflix had temporarily shelved the series last year as production stalled due to the pandemic.
"Some time away has given us a chance to come back with a completely fresh look at the material, and we should be getting into our new writers' room very shortly," Millar wrote.
Below are the other highlights from Millar's blog post last week:
- A six-episode, live-action spy series is in the works. Millar said the writer is "someone I've been a massive fan of for two decades, and he was the only person I approached." He added that it had "the potential to be one of the biggest franchises I've ever created."
- The anime series "Super Crooks," based on Millar's "superpowered heist comic about eight super-villains," will debut later this year.
- The feature films "Empress," "Huck," "Sharkey the Bounty Hunter," "Prodigy," and "Reborn" are all in the works. The latter will be directed by "The Lego Batman Movie" director Chris McKay and star Sandra Bullock.
- Regarding the previously announced "American Jesus" series, about a boy who discovers he's the resurrected Jesus Christ, Millar wrote: "I'm blown away by the creative choices that Netflix has allowed us, and particularly since this series will feature Spanish and English dialogue."
Millarworld is part of Netflix's growing efforts to expand its library of genre-heavy franchise and event programming, as competitors like Disney and WarnerMedia focus on their own streaming businesses and lean into their established IP.
Netflix introduced two new divisions last year to help with this strategy: the franchise-TV division led by Netflix's VP of international originals Kelly Luegenbiehl, and the event/spectacle-TV division led by VP of original series Peter Friedlander. "Jupiter's Legacy" falls under the latter team.
While audiences flocked to "Jupiter's Legacy" over the weekend, critics were tough on the series. It has a 39% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
"I kept feeling like I'd missed key pieces of plot or character development and I kept checking to see if I'd skipped episodes," The Hollywood Reporter's Dan Feinberg wrote.
"For a series about superheroes, 'Jupiter's Legacy' moves in what feels like slow motion," CNN's Brian Lowry wrote.
Viewers were kinder in their assessments and the series currently has a 74% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.