Like every other 2020 blockbuster, Wonder Woman 1984 was delayed earlier this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With Tenet and The New Mutants now playing, the hope was that the DC Comics sequel would meet its planned October 2nd release date even with many theaters still closed.
Yesterday, we first heard rumblings that Warner Bros. was considering a delay, and The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that the studio, "is postponing the release of its Wonder Woman sequel, according to a person familiar with the matter." They add that the plan is to move Patty Jenkins' movie "to a date later in the year," but that's obviously vague and could well end up changing.
Tenet has underperformed in North America, while The New Mutants flopped (which was to be expected). Regardless, the performance of both movies shows that it's not realistic to expect moviegoers to flock to theaters in the midst of a pandemic, especially with experts saying it's still unsafe to do so. It also indicates that so many multiplexes being closed really is bad for business.
If the situation doesn't improve, it's possible we won't end up seeing Wonder Woman 1984 this side of Christmas, and Warner Bros. doesn't appear to be willing to consider a PVOD release just yet.
It was also yesterday that we learned Sony Pictures isn't willing to release any major blockbuster until the pandemic is over, so the future is definitely looking uncertain for that big screen experience. We can only hope things will improve...or studios will be forced to embrace Digital platforms.
UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long; Warner Bros. has now confirmed that Wonder Woman 1984 will open on December 25th! This will not impact Dune, which is still scheduled for release on December 18th, but we'll now have to wait and see whether the studio sticks to these planned dates...
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