Warner Bros. has officially announced that they've decided to push back Patty Jenkins' highly anticipated Wonder Woman 1984 by seven months from its initial November 1, 2019 release date to June 5, 2020.
Gal Gadot shared the exciting news on her personal Twitter page earlier this afternoon, which was followed by a statement from WB's president of domestic distribution, "We had tremendous success releasing the first Wonder Woman film during the summer so when we saw an opportunity to take advantage of the changing competitive landscape, we did. This move lands the film exactly where it belongs.”
The move is fairly strategic in nature as Wonder Woman had immense success launching during that same weekend back in 2017, storming its way to a thunderous $103.2 million domestic debut, and it appears that WB is hoping to repeat that success with the sequel. The first film ultimately finished its box office run with a worldwide total of $821.8 million, so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility, for the studio, to at least envision a potential billion-dollar run for the Princess of Themyscira's second big-screen outing.
With James Bond 25 having shifted to February 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 wasn't expected to face much competition on its former November 2019 date, but with Joaquin Phoenix's Joker opening a month prior on October 4, it appears WB wasn't particularly keen on releasing two DC films in such close proximity to one another. 20th Century Fox's Kingsman 3 (Nov. 8), Paramount's Sonic the Hedgehog (Nov. 8), Paramount's Terminator 6 (Nov. 15), and Disney's Frozen 2 (Nov. 27) opening in subsequent weeks also likely helped expedite the decision to delay the film.
Looking ahead to 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 will now open in the wake of Legendary's Godzilla vs. Kong (May 22) and Disney's Maleficent 2 (May 29). Universal's Red Notice, which stars Dwayne Johnson alongside Gadot, has been slated to open the following week (June 12), but is now a likely candidate to move since the more popular Gadot vehicle has arrived. An Untitled Pixar Film (June 19) and Tom Cruise's Top Gun: Maverick (June 26) will close out the month.
In related news, Warner Bros. has also removed Mark Wahlberg's Six Billion Dollar Man, which was originally slated for that June 2020 date, from their release calendar, which makes sense considering they had yet to find a director to tackle the project.
Fast forward to the 1980s as Wonder Woman’s next big screen adventure finds her facing an all-new foe: The Cheetah.
Wonder Woman 1984 features:
Director: Patty Jenkins
Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman
Chris Pine as Steve Trevor
Kristen Wiig as Barbara Ann Minerva/Cheetah
Pedro Pascal in an undisclosed role
Natasha Rothwell in an undisclosed role
Ravi Patel in an undisclosed role
Gabriella Wilde in an undisclosed role
Wonder Woman 1984 lassos into theaters June 5, 2020