The DCU's The Flash film officially received its streaming date, but it will break a frustrating DC streaming record in the process when it comes to Max.
Max recently announced that The Flash will be available to stream on its platform beginning Friday, August 25. That does come as a bit of a surprise, however, since Warner Bros. stated that it wouldn't be available until fall, which begins on September 23.
All Max subscribers will be able to watch the film at no additional cost when it does premiere on the platform.
The Flash Breaks Frustrating DC Record
Since The Flash is officially coming to Max on Friday, August 25, that means 70 days will have passed since its worldwide theatrical debut on June 16.
This means that it will break the DC streaming record for the longest time between its theatrical and streaming release date, annoying DC fans eager to watch The Flash from the comfort of their Max app after becoming habituated to shorter waits.
However, the movie will not break the record by much, as its predecessor in the DCEU canon, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, had a gap of 67 days between its theatrical premiere and its streaming debut.
The days between recent DC theatrical releases and their streaming debuts can be seen below (with 0 days meaning it released instantly on HBO Max/Max):
- Wonder Woman 1984 - 0 days
- The Suicide Squad - 0 days
- The Batman - 45 days
- League of Super-Pets - 59 days
- Black Adam - 56 days
- Shazam! Fury of the Gods - 67 days
- The Flash - 70 days
Why Are DC Streaming Release Dates Getting Longer?
Aside from League of Super-Pets having a theater-to-streaming gap of three days longer than Black Adam, all of the recent films under the DC umbrella have taken longer to come to streaming than the last.
Many might assume that it could be due to financial reasons, and that is likely some sort of factor. For example, Black Adam brought in less revenue than The Batman at the worldwide box office, and Shazam! 2 made even less money than Black Adam.
Warner Bros. could potentially be hoping that fans would purchase the films digitally so that they can each bring in some more revenue, and that could explain why the streaming release dates keep increasing.
The Flash did result in the biggest box office flop in DC history, so the company definitely wanted to capitalize any way it could to bring its total return as close to breaking even as possible.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic also likely has a lot to do with these dates getting longer as well.
Back when movies such as Wonder Woman 1984 and The Suicide Squad came out, the pandemic was at its height, which is why they were released on streaming the same day as in theaters.
As the number of infected individuals started to trend down, more fans started returning to the movies, so companies could afford to wait a little longer before releasing titles on streaming services.
The Flash will be available to stream on Max beginning on Friday, August 25.
