“Wonder Woman 1984” will debut on the HBO Max streaming service and in U.S. movie theaters on Christmas Day.
What’s happening?
Warner Bros. said Wednesday that it plans to release the film on Christmas Day in both avenues — giving people who want to attend theaters a chance to see it and those who want to be home an opportunity, too.
- According to The Verge, HBO Max subscribers will have access to the film. You won’t need to pay extra like with “Mulan” on Disney Plus’ Premier Access package.
“Wonder Woman 1984” director Patty Jenkins tweeted a statement about the decision:
- “THE TIME HAS COME. At some point you have to choose to share any love and joy you have to give, over everything else. We love our movie as we love our fans, so we truly hope that our film brings a little bit of joy to all of you this holiday season.
- “Watch it IN THEATERS, where it is made safe to do so (check out the great work theaters have done to make it so!) And available in the safety of your home on HBOMAX where it is not. Happy holidays to all of you. We hope you enjoy our film as much as we enjoyed making it.”
Flashback:
Universal Studios did something similar back in April at the start of the pandemic, releasing “Trolls World Tour” in theaters and on video on demand at the same time.
- The decision drew immediate criticism from movie theater chains, like AMC, which banned Universal films from its theaters for a short time. Earlier this year, AMC added Universal back to its lineup of studios. Since then, Universal has struck deals about how soon it can release films to streaming.
Context:
The release comes as U.S. movie theaters either remain closed or slow in business because of the coronavirus pandemic. There has been plenty of debate about how films will debut in the future because of the pandemic.
“Tenet” — a film by Christopher Nolan — was one of the bigger American films to be released in theaters amid the pandemic. The box office returns were less than stellar, which raised questions among movie theater experts about how well movies will perform in theaters during the pandemic.