Royal Family’s Hall of Shame dives back into the shadows as a bestseller beats a ‘WICKED’ organization to win Netflix

So far, 2024 has seen the British Royal Family scrambling to sift through a gazillion stories about them to confirm what is a real fact about it or just fake news — Kate Middleton’s cancer announcement, Prince William’s affair, King Charles selling his family home to the Ukrainian president, etc. But now they have found an unsuspecting savior in these trying times.

For the royals, the saying that publicity, whether for good or negative, is never bad has never been less true. While dousing the still-roaring fire that they sparked with their poor handling of Kate’s cancer reveal, they were left to deal with the renewed attention and ridicule Netflix’s Scoop directed at the palace.

A fictionalized retelling of the disastrous interview where Prince Andrew practically vowed his allegiance to Jeffrey Epstein, brought Queen Elizabeth II a ton of negative press, and eventually lost his royal title, Scoop had been occupying the top positions in the streamer’s Top 10 list since it released, as per Flixpatrol. No new release or addition to the streamer dislodged it from being the Royal Family’s digital eyesore.

Until now.

Practically decimating the interest in what the disgraced royal once said to axe his own good fortune is the Italian Netflix teen romance, The Tearsmith. While it coaxed very polarizing reviews from the critics, the film is clearly doing an excellent job of impressing Netflix subscribers as it sits on the number one rank of Netflix’s Top 10, as per Flixpatrol.

So much so that even the newest and much-awaited addition to the streamer’s library, The Maze Runner trilogy, with its zombies, its organization — appropriately called WICKED — that questions and mocks humanity, and an exceptional Dylan O’Brien has been unable to beat the Alessandro Genovesi-directed flick based on a major bestseller of the same name.

Starring famous hip-hop Italian artist Simone Baldasseroni, better known by his stage name Biondo, and his exceptional chemistry with Caterina Ferioli, the dark romance tentatively begins in the stifling confines of an abusive orphanage before meeting the forces of the world outside its gates as the love story tries to find the life it desperately needed.

Interest in the Royal Family’s shady history has proven its strength time and again. For a new fictional release to take away that spotlight? Nothing says “must watch it ASAP” better.