After six release date changes over the course of a year, “Wonder Woman 1984” will be releasing on Christmas Day in theaters and on the streaming service HBO Max.
In a nearly unprecedented move, the film will be available on HBO Max the same day it is released in theaters at no extra cost to users in what almost seems like a dig at Disney for releasing “Mulan” on Disney+ at a charge of $29.99.
A similar move had been attempted before in 2016 with the release of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny,” which was supposed to be released in theaters and on Netflix on the same day. This was followed by numerous theater chains to say they would not take part in this “experiment” from Regal Entertainment to AMC.
Unlike with that situation, AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron is on-board with the decision made by Warner Bros. This comes in stark contrast to their reaction to Universal Studios wanting to attempt the same thing with “Trolls World Tour” and further upcoming films.
In a press release, Aron wrote, “For many months, AMC has been in active and deep dialogue with Warner Brothers to figure out how best this cinematic blockbuster could be seen at AMC Theatres in these unprecedented times. Given that atypical circumstances call for atypical economic relationships between studios and theatres, and atypical windows and releasing strategies, AMC is fully onboard for Warner Brothers’ announcement today.”
With this mostly unprecedented move, it will be interesting to see if this move will be something that continues past COVID-19 or if it may become the new normal for movie theaters.
