'Casper' Is a Huge Hit Again, All Thanks to Netflix

Casper the Friendly Ghost is scaring up some big audiences this October. Nearly two decades after the beloved 1995 children's film Casper, starring Christina Ricci opposite Malachi Pearson, became a box office hit, the film has once again struck success after making its way to Netflix earlier this month, the movie now sitting in the Netflix Top 10 list.

Marking Brad Silberling's feature film directorial debut, the cult classic Halloween movie is based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost created by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo and follows the kind young ghost Casper, who peacefully haunts a mansion in Maine. When specialist James Harvey arrives to the mansion When specialist James Harvey, along with his teenage daughter Kat, arrives at the mansion to communicate Casper and his fellow spirits, Casper soon finds himself falling in love with Kat, but their relationship faces obstacles in the form of Casper's troublemaking apparition uncles. Along with Ricci and Pearson, Casper also stars Bill Pullman, Cathy Moriarty, and Eric Idle.

Casper joined Netflix's streaming library on Oct. 1 and almost immediately joined the streamer's top 10 rankings. By Oct. 5, it took the No. 8 spot, per FlixPatrol data. It's ranking continued to climb until it reached No. 3 on Oct. 8, after which point Casper began to fall back down the list. As of Thursday, Oct. 12, the film ranks No. 7. For the week of Oct. 2 through Oct. 8, the film's first full week on Netflix, Casper ranked No. 6 overall in the U.S., per Netflix, coming ahead of films including Dune, Columbiana, American Made, and Megamind.

Casper's newfound success on Netflix isn't much of a surprise. The movie, which became the first movie with a fully CGI character in the lead role, was an instant hit when it was released in cinemas in May 1995. The film earned $287.9 million on a $55 million budget and lead to two direct-to-video/made-for-TV indirect prequels, Casper: A Spirited Beginning (1997) and Casper Meets Wendy (1998), as well as the animated television spin-off, The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper.

Casper currently holds a 51% rotten critics score and a 49% rotten audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film's critics consensus reads, "a meandering, mindless family movie that frequently resorts to special effects and transparent sappiness." However, the film was praised for its visual effects and performances, and it is now considered to be a classic Halloween film to be watched every spooky season.