The lawless world of streaming is a strange place, one where the most unexpected of movies can find themselves experiencing a surge in popularity that nobody could have predicted in their wildest dreams.
We can always rely on big budget blockbusters, high-profile originals and B-tier action thrillers to perform admirably, but anything outside of that is a total crapshoot. Perhaps the most unique case in point to come along in a long while is this year’s German comedy Catweazle, which is inexplicably one of the 20 most-watched titles on Prime Video, as per FlixPatrol.
Based on the children’s fantasy series that aired on British television in the early 1970s, Catweazle starred Geoffrey Bayldon in the title role as a bumbling 11th Century wizard who finds himself being pursued by soldiers. He casts a spell, jumps into a pond and emerges 900 years in the future.
Otto Waalkes stars in this year’s version, which was directed by Sven Unterwaldt Jr. Essentially a more comedic remake that’s still remarkably similar to its predecessor in style and tone, there’s literally no way to explain how Catweazle has cracked the Top 20 on a platform that boasts over 150 million subscribers, and we’ll probably never find out.
