Most analysts were expecting Warner Bros. to delay Wonder Woman 1984 even further until 2021 before the news broke that the studio were set to release the superhero sequel into theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously. After all, the box office is still showing almost no signs of recovery, and the calendar is desperately bare in terms of new releases as it has been since March.
However, a report now claims that one of the reasons behind the decision was a growing fear that interest in the movie would start to stagnate the longer people had to wait for it. Filming initially wrapped way back in December 2018, and since then, Wonder Woman 1984 has been given a handful of release dates, and the higher ups at Warner Bros. are said to have been concerned that the project might go stale in the eyes of the general public, with all of the trailers and TV spots so far only offering slight variations on the same footage.
Patty Jenkins’ DCEU blockbuster was first earmarked to hit the big screen in December 2019, but was then pushed back to June of this year. Following that, it was delayed to August and after that, October, before eventually being given a Christmas Day slot that usually would have ensured bumper box office business. But as we all know, 2020 hasn’t exactly gone to plan.
By debuting on HBO Max as well, though, Wonder Woman 1984 is guaranteed to cause a huge surge in subscriber numbers for the streaming service, and since it’s only remaining on the platform for a month before heading to VOD, it’ll generate two massively lucrative revenue streams for the studio. In fact, at this stage, it appears clear that the overwhelming minority of the movie’s earnings are going to come from theaters.