The Batman Had Second Best First Week Viewership on HBO MAX of Any Theatrical Film

The Batman has been a facet of the pop culture conversation for almost two months now, following the blockbuster’s release in theaters. Box office numbers for the film have been overwhelmingly positive — and apparently, its early days in streaming have also been pleasantly surprising. On Monday, Warner Bros. announced the early numbers for The Batman‘s first week of being on HBO Max, with 4.1 million Smart TV households reportedly streaming the film in its first week. This marks the second-best performance that a film has had on HBO Max in its first week, outside of Mortal Kombat‘s 4.3 million in the spring of 2021.

These numbers are interesting when stacked up with the other major movie releases on HBO Max, when Warner Bros. decided to release all of its 2021 movies simultaneously in theaters and on streaming for the first thirty days of their release. This means that The Batman outperformed The Suicide Squad (3.5 million) Wonder Woman 1984 (3.2 million), The Matrix Resurrections (3.2 million), and Dune (2.3 million) in their respective first weeks. It also outperformed Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which debuted exclusively on HBO Max in the spring of 2021 and was viewed by a total of 2.2 million households in its first week.

“I feel really, really good knowing that The Batman, and Black Adam, and The Flash, and Elvis, and a whole host of other movies, are literally going to be showing up on day 46 on HBO Max in a variety of territories all over the world,” former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar previously said in an interview. That is a very, very big change that I don’t think people appreciate, and I feel really good about it.”  

In The Batman, during his second year of fighting crime, Batman pursues the Riddler, a serial killer who targets elite Gotham City citizens. He uncovers corruption that connects to his own family during the investigation, and is forced to make new allies to catch the Riddler and bring the corrupt to justice. The film’s cast includes Robert Pattinson as Batman, Colin Farrell as The Penguin, Paul Dano as The Riddler, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gil Colson, Jayme Lawson as Bella Real, and Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth.

The Batman is now available both in theaters and on HBO Max.