“A Deadly Adoption,” the surprisingly straight-ahead Lifetime movie starring comedic actors Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig, drew 2.1 million viewers in its premiere Saturday.
According to Nielsen, “Adoption” was the night’s most-watched original cable program and drew about 128% more viewers than Lifetime’s primetime average. The network’s most recent high-profile telepic before Saturday was “The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe,” which drew 2.31 million viewers when it bowed on May 30. Since then, “Double Daddy” drew 1.66 million on June 6, and “I Killed My BFF” attracted 1.41 million on June 13.
“Deadly Adoption” also drew about 1 million adults 25-54, making it the fourth highest-rated original movie on ad-supported cable in 2015 — behind only Lifetime original movies “Whitney,” “Cleveland Abduction” and “With This Ring.” In adults 18-49, the roughly 800,000 viewers (0.63 rating) for “Deadly Adoption” easily topped “Marilyn Monroe” (0.50) and is the top score for a Lifetime movie since “Cleveland Abduction” on May 2 (0.93 rating).
The movie grossed more than 6 million total viewers over six telecasts this past weekend, according to Nielsen.
“Deadly Adoption” drew some Twitter interest on Saturday night, with the movie reaching a unique audience of 962,000 (via roughly 35,000 Tweets), putting it fifth among the week’s scripted programs, according to Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings.
Review: ‘A Deadly Adoption’ a Film With Something for Virtually No One
A Mar Vista Entertainment Production, “A Deadly Adoption” was produced by National Picture SHow. Rachel Lee Goldenberg directed from a script written by Andrew Steeler. The film was executive produced by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Sharon Bordas, Fernando Szew, Andrew Steele and Jessica Elbaum, and produced by Adam Silver, Fritz Manger and Max Osswald. MarVista will handle international distribution of the movie.
