Disney's brand-new Descendants: Wicked Wonderland movie is enjoying a strong performance on streaming. Based on classic Disney fairytales, and set in an alternative universe that continues many of the characters and stories from animated Disney classics, the Descendants franchise has become one of the most popular and successful in modern times. Starting with Descendants in 2015, the franchise has spawned multiple sequels and TV shows, with the fifth movie, Descendants: Wicked Wonderland, dropping on July 16. Per Disney+, the movie has enjoyed a strong streaming debut, with Descendants: Wicked Wonderland hitting the #1 spot on the streamer's chart of Top 10 Movies in the US Today. The musical fantasy ranks above Avatar: Fire & Ash at #2, Moana 2 at #3, Moana at #4, and Generations: The Evolution of Spider-Man at #5. The strong performance of the movie is no doubt due in large part to the strength and popularity of the existing franchise, and the work that has gone into making Descendants such a big success for Disney. Serving as a sequel to 2024's Descendants: The Rise of Red, Wicked Wonderland sees Red and Chloe Charming teaming up to save the world. As the movie industry has leaned more heavily on streaming in the past decade, the mark of what makes a successful movie or franchise is evolving. The Descendants movies have enjoyed a consistent presence on Disney+, and have managed to attract a strong and consistent audience over the past decade. While it is unclear how many more movies the Descendants franchise may run, there is a wealth of possibilities, considering the ensemble cast, and back catalog of available characters to choose from. While Disney has attracted criticism in recent times for remaking its iconic animated movies, such as Snow White, as live-action projects, Descendants has managed to avoid much of this sort of pushback. One of the key reasons for this could be the fact that the franchise seeks to explore storylines and characters across multiple Disney IPs, seeking to build on and improve them, as opposed to trying to remake or reboot what has come before. It's this respect for the source material and unique twists on existing stories that have helped to make Descendants such as a streaming hit. The Descendants franchise is one that has grown in prominence since 2015, and has evolved into one of Disney's flagship modern franchises. With Descendants: Wicked Wonderland marking the fifth movie produced, the franchise is showing no signs of slowing down. Descendants: Wicked Wonderland is available to stream now on Disney+.