Wonder Woman 1984' Delayed as Pandemic Slows U.S. Theater Reopenings -- 3rd Update
September 11 2020 - 9:09PM
Dow Jones News
By R.T. Watson
Warner Bros. is postponing the release of its Wonder Woman
sequel by more than two months, signaling that Hollywood studios
fear U.S. moviegoers are hesitant to return to theaters in
sufficient numbers to justify a second major movie release in the
span of a month.
The studio, part of AT&T Inc., is moving "Wonder Woman 1984"
to Christmas Day, scotching plans to open the film on Oct. 2. The
move is the latest in a series of several Hollywood stutter steps
amid the pandemic that caused mass theater closures around the
world.
"Wonder Woman 1984," like many major films originally slated to
debut during the busy summer movie period, has had its release date
changed several times as studios wrestle with uncertainty over when
and where theaters might reopen. Because governments in the U.S.
and abroad have had varying degrees of success containing
coronavirus infections, reopening plans around the world have been
staggered and unpredictable.
The decision to delay "Wonder Woman 1984" highlights a
continuing tension in Hollywood: whether to stick with plans to
release high-priority movies in theaters -- even if that means
waiting months -- or skip theaters and release them online. The
latter approach has been an apparent success in at least one case,
Universal Pictures' "Trolls World Tour," but it has also stoked
tensions with theater owners, who worry it will erode their
business.
"I know how important it is to bring this movie to you on a big
screen when all of us can share the experience together," Patty
Jenkins, director of the sequel, said in a statement addressed to
fans.
Not long after Warner Bros.' announcement, Comcast Corp.'s
Universal Pictures said it was canceling plans to release its
slasher remake "Candyman" on Oct. 16. The studio said it expects to
release the movie in 2021 but didn't set a date.
Warner Bros. recently took a major gamble by releasing the first
high-profile film in more than five months to theaters around the
world, including in the U.S. last weekend. The $200 million spy
thriller "Tenet, " from director Christopher Nolan, generated
modest results in the domestic market, grossing about $20 million
in the U.S. and Canada through the long Labor Day holiday
weekend.
During business as usual, that total would represent a mediocre
opening for a film directed by a prominent director such as Mr.
Nolan. But the result was widely regarded in Hollywood as
encouraging, given that theaters in the U.S. have been slower to
reopen than those in the rest of the world. Additionally, big
coastal metropolitan markets like Los Angeles, New York City and
San Francisco -- cities where Mr. Nolan's films historically
perform well -- are still closed.
A recent estimate by rival studio Walt Disney Co. estimated
about a third of domestic theaters are still closed.
Mr. Nolan's two previous movies -- 2017's "Dunkirk" and 2014's
"Interstellar" -- each grossed about $50 million during their
opening weekends in the U.S. and Canada. So far, "Tenet" is faring
better overseas, having grossed a total of $132.1 million through
Monday, according to Warner Bros., including $30 million during its
first weekend in China.
Mr. Nolan's original movies have typically generated about
two-thirds of their ticket sales in overseas markets. But the first
Wonder Woman film, released in 2017, made more than $400 million of
its total $821.8 million in the U.S. and Canada.
Warner Bros. has held back from deploying a large part of its
marketing campaign for "Tenet" until the big coastal cities begin
to open, according to a person familiar with the studio's strategy.
The return of the National Football League is expected to provide
opportunities to market "Tenet" to a wide audience, the person also
said.
To the extent the movie has been successful in the U.S., it is
largely because theater owners have dedicated most of their
auditoriums to it in the absence of other major films, giving
moviegoers more showings to choose from and mitigating the revenue
hit from government-mandated capacity restrictions.
Moviegoers eager to return to theaters but anxious to avoid
crowds are behaving in novel ways, according to Tim Richards, chief
executive of one of Europe's largest theater chains, Vue
International. "We're seeing bookings at times that we would not
have seen in a pre-Covid era," he said. "Our customers, instead of
booking on a busy Friday or Saturday night, are booking a
Wednesday."
With "Wonder Woman 1984" pushed back, "Tenet" is likely to face
little competition in the coming weeks. There isn't another
big-budget film on the calendar until Nov. 6, when Disney's Marvel
spinoff "Black Widow" is scheduled to debut. The most notable
releases the rest of this month include STX Entertainment's
disaster flick "Greenland" and Sony Pictures Entertainment's "The
Broken Hearts Gallery."
Cash-strapped chains like AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and
Cineworld PLC's Regal Entertainment Group suffered in the U.S.
without the type of popular movie titles needed for reopening to
make financial sense, even after state and local governments in
many jurisdictions gave them the go-ahead.
"'Tenet' is testing the waters for the other films, and that's
kind of the beginning of its legacy regardless where it ends up at
the box office," said Box Office PRO chief analyst Shawn Robbins.
"It's a watershed moment for the industry."
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 11, 2020 20:54 ET (00:54 GMT)
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