Warner Bros. has a reason to celebrate & be concerned this weekend during week two of Wonder Woman 1984. The studio is celebrating a worldwide milestone but, much like their release of Tenet, I think they’re going to wish they delayed this film until the box office was more back to normal.
Wonder Woman 1984 has grossed $118.5 million globally to date and it’s a number that director Patty Jenkins & Warner Bros. are celebrating. For box office during the pandemic, I guess we can call this a win but the closer you look, the news is a bit more distressing for the sequel. On the domestic front, Wonder Woman 1984 grossed $5.5 million in its second weekend. That’s a hefty drop of 67% during a period when box office would normally be robust if it wasn’t for the pandemic. The domestic total stands at $28.5 million and box office analysts believe the film may top out at $40 million in the states. Is the pandemic the only thing to blame? It’s a huge factor but not the whole story.
Wonder Woman 1984 is available on HBO Max for another 20 days & many more people may have gone for this option as it’s a cheaper endeavor than going to the movies. Torrenting is also an issue as the film has popped up on many sites & is being downloaded & shared illegally. Lastly, there’s the quality of the film. The movie is getting major mixed notices & its Rotten Tomatoes score has now dropped to a barely fresh 60%. The audience score is still steady at 74% but it’s down 10% from the first film. Over on IMDB, the film continues to slide as last week it sat at a 5.7/10 and it now registers a 5.5. I really don’t think this is all fanboy trolls. I know people that LOVED the first film & were genuinely disappointed by the sequel. Myself included.
We’ll have to wait and see if WarnerMedia will be 100% transparent with the figures from its run on HBO Max. While they did report a boost in access to the app when Wonder Woman 1984 launched on the service, they have still yet to release hard numbers to really show if this is a move that actually paid off. Will they release these numbers? Most streaming services tend to keep these numbers private but they may have to pull back the curtain on this one a bit because the entire industry is waiting to see if this was the right move to make for the film’s release.
