Every time Wonder Woman 1984 gets a new release date, I’m torn in two. On one hand, I’m glad they’re still giving her a theatrical release date. On the other hand, I know the more they push this, the more people just want to release the movie to streaming, and as someone who has waited my whole life to see Diana Prince on the big screen, I don’t want Wonder Woman 1984 to set a precedent for all upcoming releases to do this. (I also worry for the future of movie theaters if that does start to happen.)
According to Variety, Warner Bros. is currently trying to figure out if they want to release Wonder Woman 1984 to select theaters and then send it to HBO Max or just push the release date to next summer. I’m obviously Team Wait to Release When It’s Safe, but this is also the never-ending story of “will they, won’t they” but about the release of a movie.
I get it. Right now, no one really knows what is going to happen or when we’ll be out of this, but I also think it’s important to think about the future of movie theaters and what it’s going to mean if we start to put these blockbusters out on all these separate streaming services, and how households can cope. There’s a difference between waiting and going to the movies and spending $10 per ticket or whatever amount somewhere down the line, and spending $30+ to watch a movie you don’t own on your TV, in addition to, probably, a subscription fee for whatever service it’s on, as well.
Personally, I think it starts to set a dangerous precedent for the way to take in movies—not that we shouldn’t also do streaming options. I think we should; it has worked in the past, but theatrical releases are also an important part of the experience and doing these extremely limited ones in the middle of a pandemic isn’t going to do much to save the movie theater industry.
Who knows what is going to happen with Wonder Woman 1984. One minute, we’re being told there isn’t even a possibility of it going to streaming, and the next, Warner Bros. is reportedly considering it. Hopefully, they make the safe choice and just push it to a 2021 release and keep looking at what’s happening in the world. Maybe 2020 is just a wash for big blockbusters after March, but until we have more information on what Warner Bros. actually has planned, I’d love to stop this cat and mouse game because it truly is exhausting.
(image: Warner Bros.)
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