Two of the most anticipated projects of the year, Justice League Snyder Cut and The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, belonging to the two biggest studios in the industry, were finally released in the third week of March. Since they were released on the same weekend, a comparison of their success was an unavoidable date. The war between fanboys of the two biggest comic book universes has waged far longer than anyone can remember.
With each side arguing why their favorite superhero universe is better and pointing out flaws of the hero on the other side, there is no end to it. Likewise, the rivalry between the studios continues to persist, with each attempting to surpass one another in terms of success and profit. This trend continued with the release of the Snyder Cut and the first episode of Falcon & Winter Soldier, but comparing the two is completely stupid and senseless and Here’s Why:-
The Difference Between The Two
While both the projects are huge in their own way they are quite dissimilar from each other. The Snyder cut’s release was the result of a long struggle between the studio and fans which began when the director’s original work was completely flipped in the released theatrical cut of the movie. The movie was supposedly the biggest event in the DC Extended Universe, following the story of DC’s crown jewel, laying the foundations for the future. Contradictorily, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier is MCU’s second attempt to shine on the small screen, with the first being WandaVision.
The series explores the adventures of Captain America’s closest two friends- Sam Wilson (The Flacon) and Bulky Barnes (The Winter Soldier). While the series is significant for the journey of the characters, it is not as much significant for the MCU as the Snyder cut is for the DCEU.
The Comparisons and why are they wrong
Samba TV, an analytical firm, announced the statistical data in regards with the viewership count of both of the releases which contributed in their active comparisons. They announced that Justice League secured 1.8 million viewers while Falcon & Winter Soldier secured 1.7 viewers. However, mere stats without context is absolutely senseless. A major credit of the Snyder cut’s success goes to the fact that it was a controversial topic which greatly trended on the internet.
The #ReleasetheSnyderCut movement became an internet sensation attracting lots and lots of people while arousing their interest. There’s no denying that this earned the Snyder cut a major edge over the Falcon & Winter Soldier. In a case competition is necessary, the comparisons should be made on the basis of how many viewers other than the loyal fans did the project managed to attract with their release. People tend to prioritize movies over TV shows as the latter can be watched in their leisure time so they focus on movies first and then take up the shows. However, shows have the option for attracting viewers slowly with each episode like in the case of Falcon & Winter Soldier’s predecessor series WandaVision.
Parrot Analytics revealed WandaVision struggled between the 7th and 35th spots in terms of viewer count up until the third week of the series but jumped to the first spot by the fifth episode in the series was released. Therefore there’s no point in comparing a movie’s release to that of the first episode in a series.
In addition to that, the statistical data provided by streaming platforms isn’t very reliable. Samba TV counts it as a view if someone watches at least five minutes of a movie or episode, not the entire thing. Therefore these stats are incomplete without full context. After further investigation, Samba TV found that out of the 1.8 million people who “watched” the Snyder Cut, only one-third of the total amount of viewers actually watched the full 4-hour movie. Therefore, with so many factors impacting the view counts, comparing the release of these two projects only in terms of numbers can never measure their success.
