Warner Bros. will release Wonder Woman 1984 on Christmas Day in cinemas and on HBO Max, reports GeekTyrant. This decision comes after the studio repeatedly postponed the movie’s release due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The news comes from an official statement by Patty Jenkins, who directed the first Wonder Woman film as well as its sequel.
Nine months into the pandemic, there’s still no end in sight. Many movie theaters are closed, while others are empty as the audiences are staying away from public venues. Despite the pandemic, Warner Bros. released Christopher Nolan’s Tenet in cinemas all over the globe. After two and a half months, it earned around $360 million. For a $200 million production, that’s… not good. Even worse, John Fithian, the head of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), recently warned that up to seventy percent of US cinemas may go bankrupt early next year. Now the studios seem to be slowly, tentatively pivoting to digital streaming.
GeekTyrant also reports Disney is considering releasing some of its upcoming movies on Disney Plus, possibly encouraged by the success of the VOD release of the Mulan remake. There’s Cruella, a live-action remake of 101 Dalmatians featuring Emma Stone in the titular role. Directed by Craig Gillespie (Fright Night, I, Tonya), that film is currently in post-production. Then there are two films in the pre-production: Robert Zemeckis’ (The Witches) Pinocchio as well as David Lowery’s (The Green Knight) Peter Pan & Wendy.
It is currently unclear if the Mouse House wants to charge an additional fee for these movies on Disney Plus alongside a standard subscription (like it did with Mulan). Or maybe the studio will release it along with other Disney Plus content like they plan to do with Pixar’s Soul.
