'Wonder Woman 1984' to Debut on HBO Max
by EG
The highly anticipated sequel Wonder Woman 1984 has stopped holding out hope for a wide theatrical release. The potential blockbuster movie will instead debut on HBO Max on the same day (December 25) that it is released in whatever US theaters are open on that day. The news is a major concession to the reality of how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the movie business. Read on for details.
With a second wave of COVID-19 impacting many parts of the globe, Wonder Woman 1984 is changing course yet again.
The tentpole is all but giving up on a traditional theatrical release and will instead bow in whatever cinemas remain open Dec. 25 as well as stream on HBO Max in the U.S. for one month beginning on Christmas Day. In international markets where HBO Max is not available, the film starts rolling out Dec. 16.
"At some point you have to choose to share any love and joy you have to give, over everything else," director Patty Jenkins said in a statement Wednesday. "We love our movie as we love our fans, so we truly hope that our film brings a little bit of joy and reprieve to all of you this holiday season."
Jenkins urged audiences to watch the $200 million tentpole in theaters where it was safe to do so, and on HBO Max where it is not. In a note echoing Jenkins, star Gal Gadot added, "It wasn't an easy decision and we never thought we'd have to hold on to the release for such a long time but COVID rocked all of our worlds."
Growing the number of HBO Max customers is of huge import to TimeWarner, even if it means giving up on potential box office ticket sales that Wonder Woman 1984 would have earned had it been pushed to sometime in 2021. The hope is that a high-profile Christmas Day title such as the superhero sequel will lure new subscribers (HBO Max is pricier than most other streamers, at $15.99 a month).
WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar seemed to be laying out expectations in a blog post Wednesday in which he noted that roughly 4 million people watched the first Wonder Woman in the U.S. on opening day in 2017. "Is it possible for that to happen again this Christmas with Wonder Woman 1984 between theaters and HBO Max?" Kilar asked. "We are so excited to find out, doing everything in our power to provide the power of choice to fans."
Keeping some semblance of a theatrical release on Christmas Day also provides comfort for cinemas who are open at the time, whether domestically or internationally. Many hundreds of theaters across the U.S. and Europe are reclosing amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. At the same time, the China and Japan box office have rebounded in a major way.
In normal times, theater chains would never carry a major studio tentpole that was debuting simultaneously at home. But in this case, all bets are off. Cinema owners have plenty of good will toward Warner Bros. after the studio stuck to a late-summer release date for Christopher Nolan's tentpole Tenet despite the challenges facing the box office amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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