The recent news that Wonder Woman 1984 would simultaneously release both in theaters and on HBO Max may have been a welcome announcement to those electing to keep safe at home, but it turns out there’s one small catch. Viewers won’t be able to stream the upcoming sequel in 4K.
Come December 25th, eager moviegoers (and whatever the home equivalent is. Perhaps “moviestayers?”) will finally get to enjoy Wonder Woman 1984, but due to the platform chosen for the streaming release, viewers will be restricted to no higher than a 1080p resolution. This is because HBO Max simply doesn’t support 4K video for anything on its service. It makes sense that WarnerMedia would choose HBO Max for something like this, since it’s under their own brand. But considering how much content the platform has acquired in such a short time, it’s still a little baffling as to why they haven’t made that technological leap into the present.
It’s unlikely this tiny caveat was intentional, but the lack of 4K support has been a prominent criticism since HBO Max launched earlier this year. Every other major streaming service offers such resolutions, so many are still wondering why the home of hits like Titans and the wonderful show that everyone should seriously watch (please) Harley Quinn has yet to get with the times.
There’s actually one more detail that might shake things up further. Once WW84 releases, it will only stay on HBO Max for 30 days before retreating from the service and remaining exclusive to theaters for the duration of its release run. A home video release is expected shortly afterwards, possibly as early as February, so this could be an interesting case where viewers on average will enjoy the home release at a higher resolution than the theatrical version. Who says 2020 is running out of ideas?
Of course, it’s worth discussing how big of a dealbreaker the lack of 4K actually is. While some may see 1080p as a dying format, the fact is that it still looks pretty good and is a quick way to cut down on bandwidth usage. Here in an age where internet access is still heavily restricted in many areas, some people never watch anything in 4K out of necessity. Sure, those who don’t have that issue will still likely remark on the loss in quality, but just think about when 720p became the standard. It felt revolutionary at the time, and now one step up from there already seems quaint.
The point is, even though the eyes of many have adjusted to 4K as the standard, that doesn’t have to mean anything less is garbage. It was impressive before, and it can be again, at least until the Blu-ray comes out.
Source: IGN
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