The Batman continues to dominate the competition following its highly-anticipated theatrical release now that it's on the digital streaming HBO Max platform. According to recent statistics, The Batman has gotten better ratings than other day-and-date Warner Bros. films.
Robert Pattinson starred as The Batman, and many have loved the world created by director Matt Reeves. The movie was loved so much that The Batman 2 was officially greenlit by Warner Bros., and fans are consistently bringing up theories as to whom they want to see in the next film.
Regardless of where The Batman sequel goes, one thing is clear and that is that the first film is doing well. Deadline reports that statistics put The Batman's "first week viewership in Smart TV U.S. households at 4.1 million." This beats out a good amount of the other first week Warner Bros. and HBO Max releases from 2021, including The Suicide Squad (3.5 million), Wonder Woman 1984 (3.2 million), The Matrix Resurrections (3.2 million) and Dune (2.3 million). The only other film that had the higher first-week views is Mortal Kombat, which reached 4.3 million views.
Warner Bros.' other movies did very well for their market, especially when one considers the fact that these numbers are based on streaming rather than just sole ticket sales. Streaming numbers are much harder to track, so seeing these movies hit millions of views is a feat on its own. These numbers only further add to the ongoing debate about the future of movie releases, as fans have seen with recent news about Batgirl possibly being released in theaters.
The Batman was praised for its portrayal of the villains, with Reeves giving them a more realistic take than the common gimmicky portrayals from the comic books. The characters all felt like they could exist in today's world, assuming that someone had the means to be what these characters are. The Penguin, for example, didn't have an umbrella with gadgets or traps, but the character did have a disfigured face as well as the signature waddle.
The Batman proved that a comic book movie doesn't need to be bright or colorful in order to sell. Nolan's trilogy technically started the wave, but Matt Reeves proved that fans can get the best of both worlds without having to lose out on one side or the other. This is why many fans are excited to see a sequel and how Reeves would portray other Batman villains in the universe of the caped crusader.
The Batman is currently streaming on HBO Max.
Source: Deadline