‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Lassos Pandemic-High $16.7 Million

While “Wonder Woman 1984” has not earned the $100 million-plus opening Warner Bros. had hoped for after they greenlit it three years in the past, the DC movie has turn into the primary film in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic to gross over $10 million in a three-day opening weekend, taking in $16.7 million domestically and $36 million worldwide on Christmas weekend.

This got here even supposing “WW84” opened in fewer theaters than Warner Bros.’ final main launch, “Tenet,” which opened on over 2,600 screens again in September. Thanks to closures compelled by nationwide COVID-19 surges, this blockbuster opened on 2,151 screens in North America. Private screenings, which have turn into a backup plan for revenue-starved theaters, turned a significant driver of ticket gross sales for the movie with over 10,000 personal events booked by teams seeking to see the movie on the large display screen in a protected atmosphere. So far, the movie has grossed $85 million, having opened in China and different abroad territories final weekend.

Meanwhile, on HBO Max, the place the movie was additionally launched for dwelling viewing on Christmas Day, Warner Bros. says that almost half of the streaming service’s subscribers watched “WW84” when it was launched on Friday. HBO Max additionally noticed the whole viewing hours on Friday greater than triple compared to a typical day within the earlier month. Combined, the numbers present the timeless recognition of each Wonder Woman and superhero films as an entire, with “Wonder Woman 1984” being the primary main title within the style in over a 12 months. On Sunday, Warner confirmed {that a} third installment has been greenlit.

“Wonder Woman 1984” would be the first of 18 Warner Bros. movies by means of 2021 that shall be launched concurrently in theaters and on HBO Max. While Warner Bros. says the transfer is in response to the unpredictability of the pandemic and the necessity to lock in launch dates for subsequent 12 months’s movies, the transfer has led to turmoil amongst studios and expertise as they attempt to grapple with the potential monetary adjustments {that a} day-and-date mannequin can deliver to movies anticipated to have theatrical exclusivity. Several administrators of Warner movies have additionally spoken out towards the transfer, together with “WW84” director Patty Jenkins, although she is going to return with lead star Gal Gadot for the third “Wonder Woman” movie.

Despite this, “WW84” has dominated the popular culture dialog over the Christmas weekend, trending for a number of days on a number of social media platforms together with stars Gadot, Pedro Pascal and Kristen Wiig. Reception to the movie amongst critics and followers has run the gamut, with some calling it a worthy successor to the 2017 authentic whereas others known as it a disappointing follow-up. After initially incomes a “Certified Fresh” ranking from early critiques, “WW84” has seen its Rotten Tomatoes critics rating fall to 65% with an viewers rating of 73%. By comparability, the primary “Wonder Woman” had a critics rating of 93% and an viewers rating of 84%.

The remainder of the field workplace has seen the identical sort of poor numbers which have plagued the business for the previous 9 months. Universal Pictures, which has supplied a big quantity of the movies screened in theaters this quarter, launched Paul Greengrass’ “News of the World” in 1,900 theaters, incomes a $2.four million opening.

The Oscar hopeful movie stars Tom Hanks as a Civil War veteran tasked with returning a younger lady taken by the Kiowa to her aunt and uncle. Reception has been robust with an 85% critics rating and 86% viewers rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Though demographic numbers have been skewed by the pandemic, it’s notable that 54% of the movie’s opening weekend viewers was over the age of 45, exhibiting that there’s some small diploma of curiosity amongst older moviegoers to return to theaters regardless of the better danger of COVID-19 to that age group.

In third is one other Universal launch, “The Croods: A New Age,” which…