After a trailer was posted and then deleted, Warner Bros. has confirmed that “Wonder Woman 1984” will be released on Christmas Day on HBO Max at no additional cost. It will be available in theaters, as well as available to stream on the same day. It will remain available to HBO Max subscribers in the U.S. for one month.
With movie theaters in many markets closed due to COVID, the film has been pushed back multiple times. It was originally supposed to debut on June 5, 2020 (after being delayed from December 2019). It was subsequently pushed back to August 14th, then October 2nd, then to Christmas Day.
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,” said Ann Sarnoff, Chair and CEO, WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures. “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.
Toby Emmerich, Chairman, Warner Bros. Pictures Group. added:
We appreciate how patient audiences have been and given the great anticipation around WONDER WOMAN 1984 we are grateful to be able to make this terrifically entertaining movie widely available in these challenging times.
By moving it to streaming, this gives WarnerMedia the ability to drive subscriptions to HBO Max, in case movies theaters are shuttered with COVID cases spiking around the country.
Disney made a similar decision with Pixar’s “Soul”, which will be released on Disney+ on Christmas Day. Unlike Mulan, the film will be included in your Disney+ subscription and won’t require an additional fee.
Last month, AT&T revealed that HBO and HBO Max now have 38 million subscribers as of Q3 2020, up 1.7 million from last quarter. In Q2, the company revealed that 4.1 million had activated their HBO Max account, but now 8.6 million have activated the service.
The company just reached a distribution deal with Amazon Fire TV and is now available on Roku via AirPlay. With many subscribers not yet made the switch to HBO Max, this might be just the push they need to sign-up.