Zack Snyder's Justice League debuted on Thursday to critical acclaim and largely positive fan responses across the board. The long-awaited Snyder Cut of the superhero team-up has been several years in the making and seemingly concludes the director's era with DC movies, as Warner Bros. has expressed little interest in continuing the story.
As the release of the film is the result of a multi-year social media movement calling for Warner Bros. to “Release the Snyder Cut,” most would assume it would have the potential to be a record-breaking release for HBO Max. However, newly-released data from the service seems to indicate that wasn't in fact the case as it nears one week from the streaming debut.
ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE TRAILS BEHIND WONDER WOMAN 1984
A report from Deadline based on statistics from Samba TV has revealed Zack Snyder's Justice League drew 1.8 million viewers in the United States during its opening weekend. This number trails just behind the 2.2 million U.S. screens that enjoyed Wonder Woman 1984 during its December 25-27 opening weekend.
Both of these statistics are based on the number of viewers who watched past the five-minute mark of the film on terrestrial smart TVs that are polled by Samba TV.
Insiders also revealed to the outlet that the Snyder Cut achieved huge numbers, but unfortunately lagged just behind December's Wonder Woman 1984
SO IS THE SNYDER CUT A SUCCESS?
Even with the 2nd-place finish, the viewing figure achieved by the film is still insanely high, and there are a few key factors that attributed to Wonder Woman 1984 performing slightly better.
Firstly, there is the obvious factor that the Amazonian hero's solo outing was a totally new release coming to the service on the same day as theaters. Meanwhile, despite being a very different film, Zack Snyder's Justice League was viewed by many as a simple recut of a four-year-old film.
Additionally, the Christmas Day release of Wonder Woman 1984 placed it in a substantially better position as families gathered together for the holiday, with a family-friendly blockbuster like that serving as the perfect entertainment.
Some may also forget the Snyder Cut was a rare R-rated affair for DC, while their traditional films like Wonder Woman 1984 typically follow a PG-13 rating. The substantial difference in contents restricts the film to a much older demographic, therefore forgoing a huge potential viewer base, which was another key factor in the difference.
Warner Bros. has promised to continually release its films simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters for the remainder of 2021, meaning there will be plenty more films lined up to break this record once again. Matt Reeves' The Batman is set to be the first film to break this tradition as the 2022 release will head exclusively to theaters.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is available to stream now, exclusively on HBO Max.
