Emirates offers more than 4,500 entertainment channels on its ‘ice’ IFE systems, but it comes at a price, so to be cost-efficient, that content must be tailored to what passengers really want to watch. Thus the airline has conducted a study of viewing trends during 2021, to help plan the right IFE content for the year ahead.
Emirates offers passengers more than 1,500 films, across multiple genres, in around 45 languages. So with so much choice, which movies did people want to watch?
The most-watched film on Emirates flights last year was Tenet, starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Michael Caine and Kenneth Branagh. Tenet follows a secret agent who learns to manipulate the flow of time to prevent a future attack that threatens to annihilate the world.
The most-watched films also included Bad Boys for Life, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, and Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Salma Hayek.
International cinema is also very popular on Emirates’ IFE system. The most-watched films in this genre included the French drama starring Juliette Binoche, Who You Think I Am, and the Danish Oscar-winning film Another Round.
Family favourites
Family films were also popular with passengers in all travel classes, and the best-performing films in this category in 2021 included Cruella, starring Emma Stone and Emma Thompson, and Mulan, the story of a young Chinese girl disguised as a warrior to save her father.
Luca and Soul were popular, as was Wizarding World, with adults and young people alike enjoying Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts.
TV shows
Friends: The Reunion, which has been shown exclusively in the region on Emirates flights, tops the list of most-watched TV shows of 2021. The list also included the award-winning drama series Mare of Easttown starring Kate Winslet, and the comedy, drama, mystery and thriller, The Flight Attendant, starring Kaley Cuoco. HBO Max streaming content on the IFE system continues to draw passengers in 2022, with the addition of all three seasons of the successful series, Succession.
Live sports events
Sports enthusiasts travelling with Emirates, won’t miss out on live events, which are shown on the Sport 24 and Sport 24 Extra channels. Among the most important live sporting events enjoyed live by customers in 2021 were the 2020 European Football Championship, the rescheduled 2020 Summer Olympics, Wimbledon 2021, the British Open, and the NBA basketball finals.
