WONDER WOMAN 1984: Warner Bros May Delay Film Into Next Year

Warner Bros May Delay Wonder Woman 1984 Into Next Year

Warner Bros. executives are reportedly weighing whether to delay the hotly anticipated Wonder Woman: 1984 into next summer or hold on to its current Christmas Day release.

The fate of this hotly anticipated superhero movie has been uncertain since the pandemic first arrived in March, which pushed its theatrical release back from June 5th to August 14th, then to October 2nd, then to Christmas Day. However with the new spike in COVID-19 infections across the country, Warner Bros. is now facing the prospect of another big shutdown, especially in urban areas where the industry gets most of its revenue. If they decide to maintain the film’s current release date, it will be followed by a run on Warner Media owned HBO Max starting in early January, which could support theaters on the verge of bankruptcy, while also adding subscribers for the struggling streaming service that can’t currently compete against Netflix, Amazon, and Disney Plus.

WarnerMedia reported that HBO Max had 8.6 million subscribers in its third quarter, with 38 millions between HBO and HBO Max. While they beat expectations for the year, the streamer still trails its competitors by quite a but. Putting a superhero blockbuster on would be the biggest asset yet for them, as they haven’t had a hit on par with Netflix’s The Old Guard or Disney Plus’s Hamilton. Given that Disney’s stock went up on Thursday after announcing 73 million subscribers through Q4, despite reporting a $710 million loss, Warner Media must know that having a strong streaming service during the pandemic is important. As such, it makes sense that they would be focused on fostering growth for HBO Max.

Considering that the pandemic could easily rage into early 2021, Warner Bros. may delay Wonder Woman all the way into June or July, which would bump the new Space Jam movie. This move was always a contingency for the Warner Bros. In a September interview with Variety director Patty Jenkins made it clear that COVID-19 was what would determine the fate of her movie. “I don’t think anybody can be confident of anything right now,” she said. “We just don’t know what the course of COVID is going to be like.”

Bloomberg initially reported the possible delay.

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