'Wonder Woman 1984' had a huge first weekend on HBO Max, according to Nielsen data
- "Wonder Woman 1984" was watched for 2.25 billion minutes in its first weekend on HBO Max, according to Nielsen.
- It topped other streaming titles that week, including Disney Plus' "Soul."
- It's good news for Max, as Warner Bros. plans to release all of its movies in theaters and on Max simultaneously this year.
"Wonder Woman 1984" had an impressive debut weekend on HBO Max, according to viewership data released on Friday by the research company Nielsen.
Warner Bros.' superhero sequel debuted simultaneously in theaters and on Max on December 25. Viewers in the US spent 2.25 billion minutes watching it that weekend, topping other streaming titles on platforms that Nielsen measures (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, and Hulu). Max isn't available internationally and Nielsen only measures US viewership.
It's an impressive accomplishment considering Nielsen measures minutes watched, which gives long-running TV shows like "The Office" an advantage (the series was watched for 1.4 billion minutes the week of December 21 to December 27).
"Wonder Woman 1984" also topped Disney Plus' Pixar movie "Soul," which debuted the same day and was watched for 1.67 billion minutes that weekend.
"Wonder Woman 1984" is about 45 minutes longer than "Soul," but Disney Plus has almost double the subscribers as Max does in the US. Disney Plus has 87 million subscribers worldwide and Rich Greenfield, an analyst with research firm Lightshed Partners, estimates 33 million of those are in the US.
Max now has 17 million activations, up from 12 million in early December, suggesting "Wonder Woman 1984" gave it a much-needed boost.
It's good news for Max, as Warner Bros. plans to release all of its 2021 movies in theaters and on Max simultaneously, as it did with "Wonder Woman 1984," amid the pandemic. The movies will stream for 31 days before leaving Max for an exclusive theatrical run.
"Wonder Woman 1984" isn't faring as well at the box office, though. The movie has $148 million globally and $37 million in the US. It cost $200 million to produce.