New HBO Max Study Reveals Joker As Most Popular Movie on Platform

With a substantial portion of the country continuing to quarantine as coronavirus numbers continue to surge, HBO Max continues with its otherwise solid launch. The platform itself carries most movies bearing the likeness of DC Comics characters. Even then, one of the newest entries from DC Films continues to be the most popular on the platform. A new study published by the streaming platform trackers at Reelgood suggests Joker isn't only the most popular comic book-related movie on the service, but the most popular movie overall.

Todd Phillips' Joker leads the way in popularity on the service and is followed by the Brad Pitt-starring Ad Astra; Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone then rounds out the top three of the most popular movies available on the service. According to the study, Joker has a 7.3-percent share of all movie streams on the service. Ad Astra notched 5.2-percent of the streaming share while the Sorcerer's Stone earned 2.4-percent of market pie.

When it comes to small-screen properties, Rick & Morty is the most popular television series available for streaming on HBO Max. The Adult Swim hit is then followed by Game of Thrones and FRIENDS.

Phillips and Phoenix collaborated on the film, one which ended up tallying 11 nominations at the 2020 Academy Awards. In fact, Phoenix ended up winning Best Actor for his role. According to the director, Phoenix's professionalism in the craft was a leading factor in his ability to walk away with the word.

"I think certain actors, it affects them a lot and others it doesn't," Phillips said last year. "I would say with Joaquin and a lot of actors I work with they get really affected by their wardrobe and with Joaquin as fas as like the garbage being piled on the streets and all that stuff. I think you can't help but feel it, but I know with him it was much more wardrobe based than necessarily the production design. And you know, some of the production design, to be fair, is we don't do a lot of CGI in this movie, but there is a certain amount of world-building we did."

"I'll give you an example, you know with the MTA here in New York, they'll give you a train, but you can't put the spray paint on it," he added. "Even though they know the trains were spray-painted in the 1980s, you just can't do it. Even if you could wash it off, they just don't want it like that. They said, 'If you're going to do it, do it in post.' Like all of the graffiti on the outside of the train coming by, that wasn't there when we shot so, you know, when Joaquin's getting off that train to kill those guys, there is no graffiti there. But, he is somebody who I think just really got into it through all of the characteristics of Arthur, but also the wardrobe seems to inform him."

Joker is now streaming on HBO Max.