In a world where streaming platforms keep their viewing statistics a big secret, it’s not all that surprising HBO Max hasn’t released any sort of data about the first several days of release for “The Matrix Resurrections.” But perhaps that secrecy also has a little to do with slightly lackluster numbers?
According to a report from Samba TV (via Deadline), the third-party streaming statistics organization surveyed its users and found data that suggests “The Matrix Resurrections” was streamed by 2.8 million smart TV U.S. households over the first five days of release. While these numbers come from a third-party company that doesn’t have access to official HBO Max statistics, when you compare to other Samba TV reports, you can see approximately how ‘Resurrections’ stacks up to the biggest WB/HBO Max releases of 2021. And the results are similar to the critical reception to the film itself—mixed.
When you compare “The Matrix Resurrections” to other films during their initial 5-day release on HBO Max, you find that the Lana Wachowski film falls well below the biggest release— “Godzilla vs. Kong” (3.6 million). The comparison with ‘Godzilla’ is also pretty unfavorable when you consider the monster film earned $48.1 million during its first five days of domestic release, whereas “The Matrix Resurrections” only earned $22.5 million.
The real comparisons will come after the first 30 days, where “Godzilla vs. Kong” ranks #1 with 5.8 million viewers, followed by “Mortal Kombat” (5.6 million) and “The Suicide Squad” 5.1 million. We’ll just have to wait and see where “The Matrix Resurrections” will rank amongst those.
While it’s not a direct comparison, the 2.8 million viewers for “The Matrix Resurrections” matches that of the first 30 days of “Black Widow” on Disney+. The biggest difference, of course, is how ‘Resurrections’ was released for free to HBO Max subscribers, while “Black Widow” required a $29.99 price tag for Disney+ subscribers. So, while ‘Resurrections’ will definitely have more viewers over the first 30 days, HBO Max didn’t make millions of dollars in revenue as Disney+ did. Also, “Black Widow” did MUCH better at the box office.
So, with the first stats of “The Matrix Resurrections,” the story of HBO Max stays the same. The streaming platform definitely takes away from the box office potential of these WB films this year. And for most of them, outside of “Dune” and the aforementioned “Godzilla vs. Kong,” it seems as if WB left quite a bit of money on the table. That said, if HBO Max growth is where WarnerMedia hoped it would be by now, then maybe it’s not all bad. But it does say quite a bit that WB’s experiment will be relatively short-lived, as the studio is going back to a more traditional release strategy in 2022, with films going exclusively to theaters for 45 days before hitting streaming.