Disney Channel’s Descendants 3 premiered last Friday and the final film in the Descendants trilogy has turned out to be a massive ratings hit. With 8.4 million total viewers in Live+3 ratings, making it the top show on television Friday night as well as the highest-rated cable program in certain demographics since 2017’s Descendants 2.
According to Nielsen (via Deadline), Descendants 3 also ranked at the top on Saturday in every demographic Disney Channel tracks as well. The impressive premiere numbers were just a touch shy than Descendants 2‘s premiere did — that film premiered to 8.6 million total viewers for Disney Channel. Both sequels still fell short of the original film, which saw 10.5 million in the Live+3 data.
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Descendants 3 follows the stories of the children of several classic Disney villains. In July, one of the film’s stars Cameron Boyce died suddenly in his sleep from what was ultimately confirmed to be “sudden unexpected death in epilepsy”. Boyce played Carlos de Vil, son of 101 Dalmatians villain Cruella de Vil and the film dedicated to Boyce. Disney Channel also aired a tribute to Boyce following the film’s premiere.
“Everything you are…Every smile, every laugh, every dance, every hug, every moment, everyone you touched… you mean everything to us,” reads a dedication from Disney Channel in the video showing clips from Boyce’s work on Descendants and sitcom Jessie, where Boyce played Luke Ross.
“From a young age, Cameron Boyce dreamed of sharing his extraordinary artistic talents with the world. As a young man, he was fueled by a strong desire to make a difference in peoples’ lives through his humanitarian work. He was an incredibly talented performer, a remarkably caring and thoughtful person and, above all else, he was a loving and dedicated son, brother, grandson and friend,” Disney Channel said in a statement after Boyce’s death last month at the age of 20.
“We offer our deepest condolences to his family, castmates and colleagues and join his many millions of fans in grieving his untimely passing. He will be dearly missed.”
Boyce was remembered by past and present Disney Channel stars who took to social media to pay tribute to the actor, including Jessie co-stars Peyton List and Skai Jackson and Descendants director Kenny Ortega.
“He passed away in his sleep due to a seizure which was a result of an ongoing medical condition for which he was being treated,” a spokesperson said in a statement published through ABC News.
“The world is now undoubtedly without one of its brightest lights, but his spirit will live on through the kindness and compassion of all who knew and loved him.”
