LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Wonder Woman 1984” grossed $ 36.1 million in theaters around the world over the Christmas holiday weekend and boosted the streaming audience on HBO Max, Warner Bros. said. on Sunday when confirming plans for a third film in the superhero franchise.
It is estimated that $ 16.7 million of the box office total came from theaters in the United States and Canada, the AT&T Inc. studio said on Sunday. This was classified as the biggest domestic debut since the COVID pandemic that closed cinemas in March, although the numbers were a fraction of the usual revenue for a big-budget action movie. The 2017 “Wonder Woman” movie debuted with $ 103.2 million domestically.
With two-thirds of US cinemas closed, Warner Bros. opted for an unusual arrangement, making “WW84” available at the same time to American customers of AT&T’s HBO Max streaming service.
Millions watched the movie on HBO Max, the company said in a statement, but did not specify how long they tuned in. Total hours of viewing on the platform tripled on Friday compared to a typical day in the previous month, the statement said.
The film “exceeded our expectations in all of our key viewing metrics and subscribers for the first 24 hours on the service,” said Andy Forsell, executive vice president and general manager, WarnerMedia Direct-to-Consumer.
Warner Bros. He said it would accelerate the development of a third film “Wonder Woman” also written and directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot as the warrior wielding the noose. The studio did not announce a release date.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at research firm Comscore, said “WW84” performed well in theaters due to “an extremely challenging market”.
“Considering the availability of this highly successful film at home, the numbers for the ‘WW 1984’ theatrical debut should be encouraging for showing in theaters,” he said.
“WW84” faced competition from Pixar’s praised animated film, “Soul”, which Walt Disney Co delivered to the Disney + streaming service and some overseas cinemas. The story of a music teacher looking for the purpose of his life raised $ 7.6 million in theaters, Disney said. It was not disclosed how many people watched “Soul” via streaming.
Warner Bros. announced the same hybrid launch strategy for its 17 theatrical films in 2021, eliciting a backlash from some Hollywood film directors and operators, who are hoping for a recovery after the increase in the COVID-19 vaccination.
As of Sunday, 2020 domestic box office revenue totaled $ 2.3 billion, 80% below the previous year, according to Comscore.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
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