Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2021-11-29/Traffic report

Traffic report

Reporting ticket sales on the edge of the Wiki, if Eternals should fail

This traffic report is adapted from the Top 25 Report, prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Mcrsftdog, TheJoebro64, Benmite, SSSB, and InPursuitOfAMorePerfectUnion.

Time to speak for the Signpost again
Conjure the jesters again
Smallbones in the Newsroom is howling my name
So here is the Report of the Traffic

Here is the soul of a man, here in this place for the taking (October 24 to 30)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (October 24 to 30, 2021)
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Puneeth Rajkumar 3,250,947 Rajkumar, nicknamed "Appu" after his first leading role, died suddenly on October 29 at the relatively young age of 45. The son of #5, Appu was one of the highest-paid and most-famous actors of Kannada cinema, and appeared as a leading man in 29 films. His state funeral was conducted on October 31 and was reportedly attended by over a million fans.
2 Dune (2021 film) 2,493,804 The long-awaited adaptation of #4, directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring #7 among others, finally hit American theaters last weekend. As of this writing, it's at the top of the box office and has grossed almost $252 million worldwide. It's been successful enough to guarantee a sequel, which will adapt the second half of the novel. (As an aside, I saw it on October 30 and can confirm that it's much better than the first adaptation, even if it's a bit slow and bogged down by exposition.)
3 Squid Game 1,235,991 For those who already saw the Korean Netflix phenomenon and want more, maybe this gem from Saturday Night Live could fill in your share.
4 Dune (novel) 1,216,142 He is destined to be a King
He rules over everything
In the land called planet Dune
5 Dr. Rajkumar 979,975 #1's father, an idol of Kannada cinema who received an honorary doctorate from the University of Mysore.
6 Deaths in 2021 847,070 I seen the sun comin' up at the funeral at dawn
With the long broken arm of human law...
7 Timothée Chalamet 791,922 Chalamet might've built a name for himself in indies such as that gay romance with peaches and Greta Gerwig's two movies, but he started his career in Interstellar and now actually goes to space by becoming Paul Atreides, protagonist of #2. And the same year the Dune sequel arrives will be the one where Chalamet plays Willy Wonka in an origin movie for the chocolatier.
8 Eternals (film) 779,690 Chloé Zhao's venture into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) opens in less than a week, and while it's expected to make decent money, it's been beset by a bit of bad press. Unfortunately for Zhao and Marvel Studios, Eternals hasn't left many critics impressed thanks to a confusing plot and long runtime. It broke Thor: The Dark World's eight-year record to become the worst-rated MCU film on Rotten Tomatoes, and is the first MCU film to earn a "Rotten" rating on the site. (Who had Zack Snyder making a better superhero film than the director of Nomadland on their 2021 bingo card? I didn't.) Eternals scoring lower than expected likely isn't going to have a huge effect on the MCU juggernaut (especially with Spider-Man: No Way Home just around the corner), but it brings an end to an astonishing 13-year streak of positively-rated films.
9 ICC Men's T20 World Cup 722,078 Back to subjects that interest India is a cricket tournament, currently being held in the Arabic peninsula.
10 Halloween 655,667 The pandemic is still at large, but with vaccinations and such, maybe now there can be trick-or-treating and parties on All Hallows' Eve.

Eternals blackness, beyond the stars (October 31 to November 6)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (October 31 to November 6, 2021)
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Eternals (film) 1,884,050 The Marvel Cinematic Universe went on an ambitious route telling about long-lived, borderline immortal ancient astronauts forced to get together again to stop an ancient threat. Sadly, Chloe Zhao's epic intents are not fully realized, with mostly underdeveloped characters and the pacing ruined by too many flashbacks, and so Eternals became the worst reviewed movie of the franchise. Still, it provides enough action, humor and visual thrills to make viewers satisfied, and thus expect good box office – no matter if China won't get the movie because the director became a persona non grata – and a few more appearances on this list.
2 Puneeth Rajkumar 1,254,756 India still mourns this actor's death. And his status as the son of a Sandalwood star is reflected in our #1, where one Eternal passes himself as a dynasty of identical Bollywood leading men.
3 Dune (2021 film) 1,157,863 It might've been taken down as box office king by #1, but the 2021 adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel about people fighting over a worm-filled desert is clearly resonating with audiences a lot more than the 1984 adaptation, as evidenced by the fact this is its third consecutive week on this list.
4 Diwali 1,040,927 Back to India, the festival of lights – something also said of Hanukkah, so Michael Scott borrowed from Adam Sandler to celebrate it with this.
5 Jai Bhim (film) 991,530 Still in India, a Prime Video release based on true facts, where a lawyer tries to get justice for a pregnant woman who after being beaten and detained saw her husband go through even worse police brutality.
6 Halloween 949,260 Halloween Kills left the list ironically in a week starting with the spooky holiday where Michael Myers usually rampages.
7 Squid Game 817,447 Yes, I’m broke and it’s a damn shame.
Guess I gotta play the Squid Game.
8 Deaths in 2021 800,738 Starlight
I will be chasing a starlight
Until the end of my life
I don't know if it's worth it anymore
9 Henry Ruggs 781,176 Ruggs entered to a four-year contract worth $16.67 million with the Las Vegas Raiders last year, but his career has come to a screeching halt after he was involved in a car crash that killed a 23-year-old woman on November 2. He's been charged with driving under the influence (his blood alcohol content was 0.161, twice the legal limit) and has been released by the Raiders.
10 Glenn Youngkin 779,143 Youngkin, a Republican businessman, won Virginia's off-year gubernatorial election on Tuesday. Virginia went for Biden by 10 points last year, which means a Republican victory is probably some sort of wake up call.

Waiting in line for a new Report each week, if Eternals should fail (November 7 to 13)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (November 7 to 13, 2021)
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Eternals (film) 1,669,266 The most recent Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film continues to sit atop the box office (fending off competition from newcomer Clifford the Big Red Dog this weekend) despite less-than-stellar reviews. It's likely to be left in the dust soon, though: the highly anticipated Spider-Man: No Way Home is getting a trailer on the 16th, which—assuming the rumors and leaks are in fact accurate—is bound to take the world by storm.
2 Kenosha unrest shooting 1,638,924 Last year, police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot and injured Jacob Blake. Protests and/or riots occurred for several days after that. Kyle Rittenhouse, then 17 years old, took an AR-15 style rifle to the protests/riots and shot three protesters, killing two. A trial, which will determine whether those two killings were in self defense, was currently underway.
3 Travis Scott 1,209,588 A crowd crush occurred at Astroworld Festival, held at the former Houston theme park, on November 5. Scott has come under fire for continuing the concert even after seeing ambulances going through the crowd. Lawsuits have been filled against him.
4 Deaths in 2021 803,598 Well, they tell me of a pie up in the sky
Waiting for me when I die...
5 Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 803,255 Friday was Disney+ Day, where amidst lots of announcements the streaming service got some big releases, including the better received predecessor to #1 in the MCU – who'd have imagine a martial arts movie beating an epic by an Oscar-winning director?
6 No Time to Die 750,706 Another returning 25th movie in a franchise with Daniel Craig's departure as James Bond, which just hit digital download services in the US.
7 ICC Men's T20 World Cup 736,664 A cricket tournament that the UAE (including that city where Garfield is always sending cute kittens!) and Oman took on as India had to be separated from their national pastime due to the pandemic (and even then, Oman nearly lost its stadium when Cyclone Shaheen hit a few weeks ago). Other two British-colonized countries, Australia and New Zealand, made the final, with the former winning.
8 Dune (2021 film) 689,717 On the surface, it's a story about people fighting over sand. Underneath, it's a story about religion, politics, humanity, and all sorts of important things.
9 UFC 268 648,114 The latest mixed martial arts event, held at Madison Square Garden.
10 Amado Carrillo Fuentes 641,148 Narcos: Mexico returned to Netflix, and thus here's one of its characters, a drug dealer from the Juárez Cartel, played there by José María Yazpik.

It calls our name, recalls our number, how bad we come (November 14 to 20)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (November 14 to 20, 2021)
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Kenosha unrest shooting 2,822,572 The widely-publicized trial of Kyle Rittenhouse ended with his acquittal on all charges on November 19. For the unaware: in August 2020, during protests and/or riots following the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the then-17-year-old Rittenhouse shot three protesters, killing two. Rittenhouse was charged on five counts of reckless endangerment and homicide. The prosecution was unable to undermine Rittenhouse's claim that he had acted in self-defense, leading to a unanimous "not guilty" verdict. The American public's reaction has been (unsurprisingly) polarized, with the right celebrating Rittenhouse's acquittal while the left decries it as a miscarriage of justice.
2 Adele 1,508,018 Adele ages pretty weirdly, huh? She was born at age 19, then turned 21 before hitting it big, then she was 25, and now all of a sudden she's 30? What in the British witchcraft and wizardry is this?! For those of you who don't know Adele and didn't click the bluelinks, or do know Adele and just didn't understand that very poorly executed joke of mine, Adele has not been speedrunning through life, though hers has been pretty tumultuous in the years leading up to her latest album, which revolves around her divorce and tries to explain it to her now 9-year-old son.

At the start of this week, she performed some new songs from it during her One Night Only concert special, which drew in a whopping 10.33 million viewers. When she dropped the earth-shattering 30 on the 19th, critics were blown away, as illustrated by the record's nearly perfect score on Metacritic. Still no word on sales figures yet, though it's estimated to sell over one million copies in its first week, a feat last achieved by T-Swizzle with 2017's Reputation. To quote Adele herself, "Oh my god."

3 Young Dolph 1,208,555 One more unfortunate addition to the list of rappers who died untimely deaths this year (DMX, Lil Loaded, Biz Markie), and sadly to the list of murdered hip hop musicians too: this Memphis-based emcee died at age 36 after being gunned down by two unidentified men on November 17, while he was picking up cookies for his mother. His death came right as he seemed to be on the come-up, with his last two albums entering the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart, and puts a grimly ironic twist on records like Bulletproof and N****s Get Shot Everyday.
4 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) 1,107,120 While perennial favorite Argentina punched his ticket to football's greatest event, the brunt of attention regarding the qualifiers went to Europe finishing its group stage. Spots were earned by two former world champions (England, Spain), two slightly traditional squads (Switzerland, Serbia), the defending runner-up (Croatia), and an oft-strong team that embarrassed themselves in the 2018 qualifier (Netherlands).
5 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification 1,104,506
6 Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 918,933 The 25th Marvel Cinematic Universe installment is an undeniable success, with good reviews, box office that beat the more estabilished heroine of Black Widow – even without help from the Chinese market, no matter if it is a very Asian movie – and renewed interest on Wikipedia following a Disney+ release.
7 Red Notice (film) 864,853 Netflix actually got this movie in theaters for a while before its streaming release on Friday, because the expenditure was so much (bringing in Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot isn't cheap!) that it was better off to get some actual box office money. While this movie about thieves going after Cleopatra's relics is not the most original thing, it's certainly fun.
8 Deaths in 2021 780,616 I close my eyes
Only for a moment, and the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes, a curiosity...
9 Spider-Man: No Way Home 777,890 The next film in the Spider-Man series, which ends Jon Watts' MCU Spider-Man trilogy that began with 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming, received its second trailer on November 16. It's by far the most ambitious MCU outing coming this year, as it's not just another MCU Spider-Man movie—it's a multiversal crossover event featuring characters from all three Spider-Man film franchises. The trailer confirmed that the villains Tom Holland's Peter Parker will be facing include Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Sandman from Sam Raimi's trilogy and the Lizard and Electro from Marc Webb's duology. Holland insists that previous Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield won't be appearing, and they don't appear in the trailer... though an editing mistake discovered mere minutes after the trailer's release would beg to differ.
10 Eternals (film) 771,670 Ah yes, even if the one at streaming (#6) and the one yet to come (#9) have gotten more views, there is still a Marvel movie in theaters.

Exclusions

  • These lists exclude the Wikipedia main page, non-article pages (such as redlinks), and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Since mobile view data became available to the Report in October 2014, we exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (5–6% or less) or almost all mobile views (94–95% or more) because they are very likely to be automated views based on our experience and research of the issue. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the Top 25 Report talk page if you wish.