Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/October 29 to November 4, 2023

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (October 29 to November 4, 2023)

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Ollieisanerd, Death Editor 2, Ltbdl and a helpful IP.

⭠ Last week's report → Next week's report

As if the war in the Middle East wasn't unsettling enough, more sadness-induced views came from the unexpected death of an actor from a long finished but still popular show.

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Matthew Perry	13,203,826	Two years ago, Friends: The Reunion had many Wikipedia readers searching for the portrayer of Chandler Bing given his withdrawn performance. And now even more went to Perry's article to mourn his death at 54, capping a hard life marked by struggles with alcoholism and drugs (mostly prescription ones) - which he recalls with the same Chandler-like self-deprecating humor in his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. Aside from Friends, Perry's roles include The Odd Couple, Go On, The Whole Nine Yards, and 17 Again.
2	2023 Cricket World Cup	4,882,524	The premier cricket tournament heats up with two teams having qualified for the semi-finals and two others already disqualified, the latter of which ironically includes the reigning champions England. The runner ups of the previous edition New Zealand also seem to be struggling after a great start.
3	Cricket World Cup	3,674,514
4	John Bennett Perry	1,552,592	#1's father, who left his mother (a Canadian former beauty pageant who would work for years with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau) when he was still a baby seeking an acting career, that would go on to include Old Spice commercials, movies like George of the Jungle and shows like Falcon Crest, and related to Matthew's career, an episode of Friends and two occasions actually portraying his father (the film Fools Rush In and an episode of Scrubs).
5	Five Nights at Freddy's (film)	1,475,816	After years in development hell, during which it got its lead in the killer animatronics genre taken by Willy's Wonderland and The Banana Splits Movie, this video game adaptation finally hit theaters, and while it got negative reviews claiming the movie only works for previous fans, name recognition led to huge box office numbers even if it was also available with a Peacock subscription, opening to $80 million in North America costing only a fourth of that - and it currently earned more than 10 times its budget with $200 million worldwide!
6	Leo (2023 Indian film)	1,244,556	Kollywood filmmaker Lokesh Kanagaraj has a cinematic universe to call his own, and the latest installment featuring Vijay as a man pursued by gangsters is one of India's highest-grossing films of the year. A sequel is expected, albeit Lokesh has three other movies to finish first.
7	2023 Israel–Hamas war	1,168,496	The war continues with Israel bombing refugee camps, hospitals, and ambulances. Thousands of children have already died and many more will continue to die. The light at the end of the tunnel will only get darker and darker as the war marches on.
8	Halloween	1,040,028	The spooky holiday held on October 31. 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of the one movie that can be watched on both this day and December 25, The Nightmare Before Christmas.
9	Deaths in 2023	998,516	A favorite this time of year due to the above: Spooky, Scary Skeletons, Send shivers down your spine, Shrieking skulls will shock your soul, Seal your doom tonight.
10	Killers of the Flower Moon (film)	970,325	Martin Scorsese's epic about the Osage Indian murders that happened in Oklahoma earned lots of critical praise and while it only earned half of its massive $200 million budget at the box office thus far, production company Apple Studios probably doesn't care, especially if big viewership numbers happen whenever it moves from theaters to Apple TV+.
11	Five Nights at Freddy's	910,689	The franchise that #5 was based on, whose creator insists on making a billion things for, with video games (oh wow I never would have guessed), not very good novels, and board games. Oh, and a novelization of the film, no franchise is complete without a novelization of the film.
12	2023 Ballon d'Or	853,788	Lionel Messi was chosen by France Football as the best player of the 2022-23 season, as after all it was the one where he finally lifted the FIFA World Cup. The women's award also went to a world champion, Spain's Aitana Bonmatí, and the Yashin Trophy for best goalkeeper went to the goalkeeper of Messi's victorious Argentinian team, Emiliano Martínez.
13	Friends	828,303	Next year will be the 20th anniversary of the final episode of this sitcom about six New Yorkers living weird lives and drinking lots of coffee, and the show remains as popular as ever, given how many people mourned the death of the portrayer of possibly the show's most popular character (#1).
14	Adam Johnson (ice hockey)	825,157	Tragedy struck this American ice hockey player during a game for England's Elite Ice Hockey League, as he had his neck slit by another player's skate and bled to death (the same life-threatening injury happened in the NHL twice, to Clint Malarchuk and Richard Zedník, but both survived). Along with tributes in the hockey world, including by the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins for which Johnson played 13 games, the EIHL mandated that players will now wear neck guards.
15	Keith Morrison	811,772	This Canadian journalist became #1's stepfather after his real father, #4, left his family to pursue a career in acting, giving him four half-siblings.
16	Ballon d'Or	798,252	France Football has been choosing the best footballers of the year since 1956, and for a period the award was even merged with FIFA's award to create the FIFA Ballon d'Or (since split again). #12 marked the 8th time Lionel Messi took the prize.
17	Lizzy Caplan	754,595	#1 never married or had children (something his character in #13 was afraid of), and his longest relationship was six years dating this actress, best known for Mean Girls and Masters of Sex.
18	Day of the Dead	739,345	Two days after #8 comes this holiday, known for how in Mexico it inspires colorful celebrations and skull decorations, as seen in the animated movies Coco and The Book of Life.
19	Crown Jewel (2023)	688,329	For something less disturbing in the Middle East (aside from the complaints about sportswashing), Saudi Arabia received the fifth edition of their dedicated WWE event.
20	Jawan (film)	681,007	Netflix added to its Indian catalogue this Bollywood thriller that is the country's highest-grossing movie of the year, and one of their highest-grossing ever.
21	Israel	643,515	In 1948, the British would leave Mandatory Palestine, and in spite of the United Nations wanting to create separate states for the Arab and Jewish communities, following a war only the latter existed. Both sides have the right to exist, and a two-state solution has been often negotiated only to never be fully settled, so their conflict tends to re-emerge, most recently with #7.
22	Courteney Cox	635,971	In #13, she played the love of #1's character's life. Many hoped they would become a real life couple after Cox divorced David Arquette given how close and affectioned both were (and that's saying something given strong the friendship between all six stars was).
23	State of Palestine	623,666	Back to the chaos of #7, the Arabs currently split into two tracts of land, the West Bank ruled by the Palestinian National Authority (which the international community recognizes) and the Gaza Strip ruled by Hamas (which the international community deems a terrorist organization, and attacking #21 to start the conflict didn't help their case).
24	Matt LeBlanc	599,596	In #13, he was #25's roommate and best friend. LeBlanc, #22 and the other three actors released a joint statement declaring themselves 'devastated' by Perry's death, and all five were present at his funeral.
25	Chandler Bing	581,859	"Handle is my middle name. Actually, it's the middle part of my first name." Finishing where we started and keeping off Friends fan Taylor Swift is #1's character in #13, with whom he identified as soon as he read the script then titled Friends Like Us and in spite of a terrible pilot called L.A.X. 2194 delaying his audition, Perry soon got the role, guaranteeing 10 years of memorably snarky lines (albeit one became sadly prescient).