Zack Snyder’s Justice League was viewed more than Marvel’s Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s first episode

It’s clear from all reviews (including our very own Darryn) and news from across the entertainment world that the Snyder cut of The Justice League, released on HBO Max last week was a massive success. Something which probably shouldn’t surprise anyone considering all the hype and expectations the film has built up ever since the first theatrical release in 2017 arrived to the disappointment of many fans.

Exactly how much of a success was it though? Well, according to figures from analytics firm Samba TV, as reported by Deadline, it appeared that the Snyder cut proved even more popular than Marvel’s own massive The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s first episode, with the latter drawing in a still-impressive 1.7 million household viewings when compared to Justice League’s 1.8 million total. It’s not often that anything can top a Marvel property in terms of viewing numbers. Those are terrific numbers, although it’s worth remembering that this is only relative to the US and excludes global audiences for both, and the performance of The Justice League on other platforms outside of HBO Max. Darkseid only knows what those numbers would look like if piracy was taken into account.

There may be more to the story though, as according to Samba TV in an interview with Sylabdul Inc that they count viewers as anyone who has watched over 5 minutes of a TV series or film. Given Justice League’s massive four-hour run-time, that’s not a lot when compared to the final product, with the firm revealing that only a third of households as they have tracked it, actually finished the movie all the way to the end. Meaning that as popular as the film was, few were able to bear with it for too long.

It’s also worth noting that these figures have not yet been corroborated by the respective streaming services, who tend to not reveal these sorts of details easily, plus it’s entirely possible that given its long-running time, people have decided to take a break while watching the new Justice League movie and are consuming it in smaller doses, something which is wholly understandable. Either way, it’s clear that Justice League along with Marvel’s new series are dominating the world of entertainment, which only further showcases the popularity of comic book properties in the entertainment world currently.  

Speaking of Justice League though, despite all of Zack Snyder’s efforts to bring his new cut to audiences, what was released on HBO Mx last week is still not his favourite version of his story. Instead that honour belongs to the black and white version which Snyder previously teased. While it was believed that it might never get released, Snyder has a way of making unlikely versions of his films come out and a trailer for that version of the film has revealed that the monochromatic version of Justice League will be available on HBO Max soon.

That’s great news for purists, although I’m not sure people would be willing to sit through another four hours of that film to watch the same story all over again. Unless you’re either the world’s biggest Snyder fan or a true masochist.

Last Updated: March 25, 2021