During its fourth quarter earnings call, AT&T CEO John Stankey defended the controversial decision to release WarnerMedia’s entire 2021 film slate on HBO Max by citing Wonder Woman 1984‘s success on the streaming platform. According to Stankey, the highly-anticipated sequel helped double HBO Max subscriptions (including “activations” by HBO subscribers who log into HBO Max for the first time) during the fourth quarter. The streaming service is now two years ahead of schedule in its quest to build a subscriber base that go toe-to-toe with heavy hitters Netflix and Disney+. While Wonder Woman 1984 obviously didn’t, and couldn’t, have a box-office haul in the billions like the first film, AT&T is pleased that its hybrid release strategy worked as planned and was the “right call” for the rest of 2021. Via Deadline: