Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/June 18 to 24, 2017

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Prepared with commentary by OZOO and Igordebraga

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For the week of June 18 to 24, 2017, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes
1 Otto Warmbier   1,532,703 After being held captive in North Korea for 18 months, this American college student was released on June 12 - in a coma state. Back in the U.S., doctors discovered extensive brain damage - that the Koreans' medical reports showed had already begun during captivity - that lead to a persistent vegetative state and Warmbier's eventual death one week later at the young age of 22.
2 Transformers: The Last Knight   1,220,845
 
The fifth installment in the Michael Bay-directed adaptation of the Hasbro franchise about transforming alien robots hit theaters this week. Like King Arthur: Legend of the Sword a few months prior, it features an unorthodox appropriation of the Arthurian legends, only somehow getting even worse reviews (15% on Rotten Tomatoes, worse than the 28% King Arthur and all the four preceding Transformers!), but better worldwide box office (although the $69 million earned domestically by The Last Knight in five days is a vast downfall for the series, given the fourth movie opened to $100 million in just a weekend).
3 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup   883,791
 
In preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Russia is receiving the continental champions plus current world champion Germany. Like in the previous edition, it is being held amidst nationwide protests - but not exactly tournament related, despite plenty of reasons they could be.
4 Ram Nath Kovind   802,117   As the Indian presidential election, 2017 is scheduled for July, Kovind was named as the presidential candidate by the National Democratic Alliance that currently dominates the parliament.
5 Wonder Woman (2017 film)   749,354
 
After three weeks in a row as #2, the long-awaited debut of DC Comics's Amazon warrior princess falls off slightly. Well-received by critics and audiences alike, it is breaking all sorts of domestic box office records, being now the highest-grossing live-action film directed by a woman, the biggest moneymaker in the DC Extended Universe, and the third overall in DC adaptations, behind The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. Not bad for a project that languished for two decades in development hell, and now is proving the viability of female led movies in the modern era.
6 Gal Gadot   731,622
 
Right after the movie, comes Wonder Woman herself. Having made her name playing Gisele Yashar in the The Fast and the Furious franchise, Israeli actress and model Gal Gadot has moved on to playing Diana Prince in the nascent DC Extended Universe, making her debut in last year's Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
7 Brooks Koepka   718,544
 
This 27 year old golfer claimed his first major championship by winning the 2017 U.S. Open
8 Deaths in 2017   714,719
 
100,000 views a day this week, as normal. Someone could probably write an interesting study on what time of the day viewers check this page, if they visit more often on weekdays or weekends, if significant deaths in the news influence the views one way or another. Not me of course, someone else.
9 Prodigy (rapper)   657,982
 
One half of the rap duo Mobb Deep, Albert "Prodigy" Johnson died at the age of 42 of sickle cell anemia. He was performing in Las Vegas as part of a tour when hospitalized.
10 Grenfell Tower fire   836,550
 
On June 14, this London tower block burned down. More than 80 deaths and over 70 injured have been reported, and the local authorities have been criticized for their handling of the tragedy.
11 Money in the Bank (2017)   575,437
 
WWE's latest pay-per-view pantomime was held at the Scottrade Center (pictured) on 18 June.
12 Oskar Fischinger   553,487 This German-American abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter inspired an amusing Google Doodle out of his biggest invention, the lumigraph.
13 Tupac Shakur   550,427
 
Hailed as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, Tupac had his life chronicled in the film All Eyez on Me, released on the rapper's birthday, June 16. Proving the strength of Tupac's legacy nearly 21 years after his death, in spite of negative reviews the film opened with $26.4 million in its opening weekend, enough for #3 in the box office (behind Wonder Woman, #5 on this list, and Cars 3).
14 FIFA Confederations Cup   883,791 The 2017 edition of this quadrennial preparation for the FIFA World Cup is currently at #3 - and it's rumoured to be the last overall, given the 2021 tournament is uncertain.
15 Shooting of Philando Castile   562,359
 
On July 2016, a Minnesotan African American was shot dead in a traffic stop after being mistaken for a bank robber, with the aftermath being live-streamed by his girlfriend and thus giving the incident a high profile. Nearly one year later, the policeman responsible was acquitted of all charges, but wound up dismissed by the police force.
16 Tubelight (film)   526,315
 
Salman Khan (pictured) starred and produced this Bollywood film, an Indian adaptation of the American drama Little Boy, changing World War II to the 1962 Sino-Indian War.
17 2017 NBA draft   506,264
 
The annual selection of college basketball players by professional franchises happened on June 22. Like last year, the first overall pick was taken by the Philadelphia 76ers, namely Markelle Fultz (pictured) of the University of Washington.
18 Daniel Day-Lewis   430,916
 
An actor so accomplished he warranted a knighthood in 2014, Sir Day-Lewis announced his retirement following the completion of his acting role in Phantom Thread - to be released in December - leaving behind a filmography of only 20 productions, most highly acclaimed and that earned him an unprecedented three Best Actor Academy Awards out of five nominations.
19 American Gods (TV series)   429,500
 
The Starz/Amazon Prime series, based on Neil Gaiman's novel and starring Ricky Whittle (pictured) and Emily Browning, closed its first season, with the second already on the way.
20 The Mummy (2017 film)   397,678
 
A brand-new movie franchise for you to enjoy! I say brand new, it's actually the third version of the The Mummy franchise, and the first in Universal Studios' "Dark Universe" series. The movie stars Tom Cruise (pictured) as the main character, Sofia Boutella as the titular Mummy and Russell Crowe as a most-likely-sequel-setting-up Dr. Jekyll. As mentioned, the film is the first in a new franchise, which has been announced to contain movies based on the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Although seeing as the movie opened in the US with a weekend of $31,668,375, over 10 million dollars less than the 1999 version of the film did (not adjusted for inflation), I wouldn't be sure how much of this franchise will actually show up.
21 Albert Einstein   389,427
 
The 2017 National Geographic period drama television series, Genius, which in its first season featured Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Flynn as the elder and younger versions of the famed physicist, aired the season finale on June 20.
22 Fidget spinner   383,869
 
Continued popularity for the stress-relieving toy, which are being cited as an aid for individuals with ADHD, but are also being banned by certain schools for being a nuisance. Interestingly, fidget spinners were originally invented in the 1990s. Come to think of it, last year's big summer thing, Pokémon, was also invented in the 1990s. Could Tamagotchis be the next big 90s thing to make a comeback as a summer fad? I will let you know as soon as I finish investing my life savings in Tamagotchi accessories.
23 McMillan Tac-50   379,223
 
A Canadian Joint Task Force 2 sniper made the longest recorded sniper kill in history with this weapon, shooting from a distance of 3,540 m (3,871 yd).
24 ICC Champions Trophy   363,932
 
The 2017 edition of this quadrennial cricket tournament was held in England and Wales. India returned to the final, held on June 17, but lost to neighbour\rival Pakistan.
25 Botulism   358,654
 
The North Korean government claimed the brain damage suffered by Otto Warmbier (#1) was caused by this disease, mostly associated with improperly preserved food.

Exclusions

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  • This list excludes the Wikipedia main page, non-article pages (such as redlinks), and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Since mobile view data became available to the Report in October 2014, we exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (5–6% or less) or almost all mobile views (94–95% or more) because they are very likely to be automated views based on our experience and research of the issue. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish.
  • Per consensus, Lali Esposito is excluded.
Note: If you came here from the Signpost article, please take any discussion of exclusions to this article's talk page.