Warner Bros. has officially confirmed Wonder Woman 1984 will be released on HBO Max, and in theaters, on Christmas Day 2020. Following the success of 2017's Wonder Woman, director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot signed on to return for a sequel. The highly anticipated blockbuster was originally set to come out over Christmas in 2019, but it was moved up to November before getting delayed to summer 2020. That proved to be the first of many delays for Wonder Woman 1984's release.
Before COVID-19 became a worldwide pandemic that shutdown the movie industry for months, Wonder Woman 1984 was scheduled to be released in June. Once it became clear that movie theaters weren't going to be wide open by then, WB pushed it to August, and then again to October, and once more to December. However, with COVID-19 cases surging across America and theaters in Europe closing down again, whether or not Wonder Woman 1984 would be able to keep this plan became uncertain. Rumors circulated that the movie could get delayed again to 2021 or come out on HBO Max shortly after the theatrical launch.
Now, Wonder Woman 1984 is set to be released on Christmas in theaters and on HBO Max. Warner Bros. put a new trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 on YouTube but did not list it as private. The trailer ended with the reveal that the movie will be available for no additional charge to HBO Max subscribers on December 25, 2020. It is keeping its theatrical launch for that date, giving fans the chance to still see it on the big screen if they want. THR has since confirmed these release plans.
With Wonder Woman 1984 officially heading to HBO Max this Christmas, it becomes the latest blockbuster to incorporate a streaming release due to the pandemic. Disney moved Mulan to Disney+ and only put the movie in theaters where the streaming service isn't available, while movies like Bill & Ted Face The Music had simultaneous theatrical and PVOD releases in the summer. Pixar's Soul is launching exclusively on Disney+ on Christmas Day as well, so Wonder Woman 1984 won't be the only high-profile film to launch over the holiday.
For Warner Bros. specifically, the move comes after the studio and Christopher Nolan pushed for theaters to reopen alongside Tenet. But, the studio appears to have learned not to put the fate of one of their biggest blockbusters entirely in the hands of theaters. This decision will ultimately be another major blow to the theatrical business, as Wonder Woman 1984 was the last major blockbuster standing for 2020. It should now be expected that AMC and others will follow in Regal's path and close down once again.
The damage that Wonder Woman 1984's new release plan could have on theaters will likely go hand-in-hand with HBO Max's popularity skyrocketing. The streaming service launched a few months ago and has done moderately well, but it hasn't had a major piece of original content yet that could boost subscribers. That will likely change in the next month as more people sign up to watch Wonder Woman 1984 and with WB finally striking a deal for HBO Max to be available on Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices.
Source: Warner Bros.
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