Wonder Woman 1984 and Soul are huge hits according to new viewership data. The streaming wars are heating up. All of Hollywood's major studios are aiming to bolster their own streaming services in an effort to compete with the current market leader, Netflix. Over the course of the pandemic, streaming services have been releasing massive tentpole films in lieu of releasing them to theaters given their prolonged closure. What only two years ago seemed impossible has now happened. Studios like Warner Bros. are releasing their biggest films simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters. Disney pulled movies like Mulan and Hamilton from their theatrical release dates in favor of Disney+ and Universal sent Trolls: World Tour straight to PVOD. The Hollywood landscape is changing as studios shift to streaming in this new digital era.
One unfortunate consequence of this monumental shift is the lack of viewership data that studios decline to share. Not too long ago, Hollywood knew what films were successful, partly based on their box office returns. The numbers were clear-cut, easy to understand, and accessible to all. Now in this new streaming era, studios don't have to release their viewership numbers leaving everyone in the dark. This has forced film enthusiasts to rely on third-party data analytics companies for any sort of information. Although these numbers are not validated by the studios, they are all Hollywood has to interpret at the moment.
One such data analytics company is Samba TV who just released a chart showing how well various films performed on their respective streaming services. Ahead of the pack is Soul and Wonder Woman 1984, which both performed extremely well. Soul was watched by 2.9 million households in the first three days and 5.8 million households in the first thirty days. Wonder Woman 1984 was watched by 2.5 million households in its first three days and 4.3 million in its first thirty. The next best performers are Borat: Subsequent Movie Film and Tom and Jerry, which both did well but saw significantly fewer viewers than Wonder Woman 1984 and Soul.
Judging by the chart, HBO Max is doing the best with its direct-to-streaming movies. They dominate the list with eleven entries followed by Prime Video with three entries, Disney+ with two, and Hulu and Apple TV+ with just one. This is good news for Warner Bros. who came under heat in December for their chosen film release strategy in 2021. HBO Max also needs to keep releasing hits if they want to grow their subscriber base and catch up to the likes of Disney who already has over 100 million subscribers. Disney only has to release a few big films a year like Soul and can still get a huge subscriber base.
HBO Max and Disney+ have been pitted against one another since the beginning of the streaming wars most likely because they are helmed by major movie studios. Wonder Woman 1984 and Soul actually competed against each other when they were both released on Christmas day last year. Soul performing better than Wonder Woman 1984 is pretty indicative of the streaming landscape as it exists right now. Disney is gaining subscribers much faster than HBO Max despite releasing fewer huge titles. Once HBO Max expands into more international territories, it will be interesting to see if the streaming giant can ever catch up.
Source: Luiz Fernando / Samba TV