After listing a new date, then bumping it twice, Wonder Woman 1984 will be dropping into homes on Christmas Day. All you need is HBO Max.
The sequel to the DC superhero epic has most recently been set to debut in theaters on Dec. 25, but with coronavirus cases surging instead of fading nine months into the lockdown, and medical leaders urging everyone to stay home for the holidays, that no longer seemed tenable.
Warner Bros. Pictures has announced that the theatrical release will still happen for any areas that may be open at that time, but the film, co-written and directed by Patty Jenkins, will also premiere that day on HBO Max.
There will be no additional cost to subscribers, and the movie will remain on the streaming service for a month. The plan is to debut the movie in international theaters a week before, on December 16.
“As we navigate these unprecedented times, we’ve had to be innovative in keeping our businesses moving forward while continuing to super-serve our fans,” Ann Sarnoff, Chair and CEO of WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group, said in a statement. “This is an amazing film that really comes to life on the big screen and, working with our partners in the exhibition community, we will provide that option to consumers in the U.S. where theaters are open. We realize that a lot of consumers can’t go back to the movies due to the pandemic, so we also want to give them the option to see Wonder Woman 1984 via our HBO Max platform.”
The movie, set in the big-hair, big-shoulders, big-money era of the mid-’80s, features Vanity Fair cover subject Gal Gadot as the Amazonian warrior princess, reuniting with Chris Pine‘s Steve Trevor, and facing down Kristen Wiig as the villainous Cheetah and Pedro Pascal as a corrupt slickster businessman named Max Lord.
The decision to release Wonder Woman 1984 on a streaming service follows decisions from Warner Bros. to do the same with the Anne Hathaway fantasy The Witches, Paramount selling The Trial of the Chicago 7 to Netflix, and Disney’s decision to debut its live-action Mulan and the Pixar movie Soul on Disney+.
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