Reese Witherspoon's 2001 Hit Legally Blonde Returns to Streaming Charts

Prime Video subscribers have been blessed with great new content this year so far. Sony's Spider-Man Universe expanded as Nicolas Cage starred in the stylish and cruelly canceled Spider-Noir; everyone fell in love with the adaptation of Elle Kennedy's book series, Off Campus; Riz Ahmed delivered one of the most underrated hits of the year with Bait; the coziest Prime Video series of the year, Every Year After, won hearts worldwide; and Elle finally brought back fans to the Legally Blonde universe.

Premiering in July on Prime Video, Elle told the story of the iconic Elle Woods once again, only this time starting when she was 16 years old. Lexi Minetree was picked to take over Reese Witherspoon's beloved, career-defining performance, alongside the likes of June Diane Raphael, Tom Everett Scott, and more. Becoming the most-viewed show on Prime Video during its first week of release, there's no doubt that Elle proved popular on Prime Video, with the 2001 original now also a streaming favorite.

Robert Luketic's classic based on Amanda Brown's novel was a big hit in theaters upon release, turning an $18 million production budget into more than $140 million worldwide to date. 25 years later, it is still a favorite of many, illustrated by the success of the prequel series. At the time of writing, Legally Blonde is one of the ten most-streamed titles on MGM+ in the U.S., a list topped by Jon Hamm's American Hostage.

'Elle' Was Inspired by a Modern Netflix Favorite

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The Legally Blonde prequel might not have lived up to the 2001 original, but it was still enjoyed by the franchise's legions of fans. But what many of those fans didn't know was that Elle was inspired by another modern streaming adaptation, one that stars Jenna Ortega as a nihilistic teen psychic. "I saw that Wednesday Addams show and I was like, 'Oh, she was in high school.' I loved it. I watched every episode. I thought it was amazing," Witherspoon said in an interview ahead of Elle. "And I was like, 'We should do Elle Woods in high school because I wanted to see who she was before college, before law school.'"