A 'White Lotus' Favorite's Fairytale Cult Classic Is a Surprise Streaming Hit

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Jennifer Coolidge in a floral dress in 'The White Lotus'

In over three years at Collider, senior author Jake has now penned over 2500 articles covering a wide range of TV and film for the resources, lists, utilities, news, and interview teams. Alongside interviewing stars such as Selin Hizli, Rose Ayling-Ellis, and Chelsea Peretti, Jake was lucky enough to visit the set of Aardman and Netflix's Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl in 2024, getting the chance to chat with four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. Jake has also worked for other publications, including Agents of Fandom.

As a show that boasts a wide and acclaimed collection of performances, from Quinn Mossbacher (Fred Hechinger) to Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) and Victoria Ratliff (Parker Posey), to take the crown as the best character on HBO's The White Lotus is an achievement that shouldn't be understated. It's also a title almost unanimously considered to be deserving of Jennifer Coolidge's Tanya McQuoid, the compelling and ever-quotable diva who propelled this brilliant series from great to unforgettable.

At the time of writing, another of Coolidge's hit roles is proving a surprise hit on the streaming charts. The 2004 romantic comedy A Cinderella Story is currently one of the ten most-streamed titles on Prime Video in the U.S. Starring a young Hilary Duff, Coolidge, and Chad Michael Murray, A Cinderella Story is a cult classic from the golden age of teen movies that was sadly misunderstood upon arrival. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film earned a middling 53% from audiences and a terrible 11% from critics, with the consensus reading, "An uninspired, generic updating of the classic fairy tale."

Produced for a reported $19 million, A Cinderella Story was a hit at the box office, returning a global total of $70 million. Split between a domestic haul of $51 million and a further $19 million from overseas markets, the film's success was proof of the rising love for the chick flick in the same year that Mean Girls became the genre's flagship release. A synopsis for A Cinderella Story reads, "A teenager with a wicked stepmother develops an online relationship with a popular high-school quarterback."

'A Cinderella Story' is Surely Next in Line for a Nostalgic Sequel

Thankfully, this opinion of the film has largely disappeared in the two decades since, with A Cinderella Story now a favorite among many in a genre widely regarded asnostalgic. In fact, one of the film's stars, Michael Murray, recently appeared in the revival of another beloved movie of this era, with Freakier Friday proving a hit in theaters and on streaming. Since this release, there has been plenty of clamor online for a return to A Cinderella Story, and, in the age of everything getting a sequel, this certainly seems a likely prospect.

Jennifer Coolidge's A Cinderella Story is one of the ten most-streamed movies on Prime Video in the U.S. Stay tuned to Collider for more streaming stories.