Wonder Woman 1984 Will Be HBO Max’s First Venture Into 4K
I’m hardly the first one to say it, but it’s mightily weird that nothing on HBO Max supports 4K, HDR or any of the more modern media technologies. That may soon change, however. Director Patty Jenkins made an announcement on her Twitter account this morning: her Wonder Woman 1984 will be streamable in all kinds of fancy formats when it goes live Christmas Day, and most of them are new to the channel.
The list of support includes 4K Ultra HD, HDR 10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Dolby Vision is a fancier version of HDR, and Dolby Atmos is about as “surround” as surround sound currently gets with support for speakers both above and below the viewer.
Warner Bros. made the decision to allow Wonder Woman 1984 to stream on HBO Max last month, as the coronavirus situation was getting worse, not better, and it’s very unlikely anyone will be able to make it to a theater this month (as far as we know, its theatrical debut is still a go for December 25). The film has been finished for months and has been delayed about a year due to circumstances.
HBO Max will support 4K on Apple TV 4K, Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, Amazon Fire TV Cube and 4K Fire TV Edition smart TVs, Chromecast Ultra, AT&T TV and supported Android TV devices. This reporter has a Roku TV, which no version of the app is on at any resolution. WB says HBO Max is working on “expand[ing] these capabilities to further films and TV series, as well as adding support for additional devices, throughout 2021.”