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WONDER WOMAN 2 directed by Patty Jenkins (11/1/19)
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1,313 posts in this topic

23 minutes ago, paperheart said:

‘Wonder Woman 1984’ & All The Theatrical Release Date-HBO Max Madness At Warner Bros

https://deadline.com/2020/11/wonder-woman-1984-theatrical-release-hbo-max-warner-bros-1234615102/

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The internet is in a tizzy over a Bloomberg article tonight that the sequel to the $821M-plus grossing 2017 DC hit, which broke several records for women at the box office, is headed for an HBO Max play a week or two following its Christmas Day theatrical run. I hear that’s not the option the studio is careening toward. However, according to exhibition sources, I understand that WarnerMedia brass have kicked around the idea of a simultaneous theatrical and HBO Max release on Christmas Day, particularly given how the pandemic is poised to shut down California exhibition in two weeks as more counties move from red to purple tier, with other U.S. cities imposing curfews. Oh, yeah, and Western European theaters are closed.

 

Nothing is certain yet because Warner Bros. hasn’t settled on a precise course of action. A full theatrical release date move of the Patty Jenkins-directed, Gal Gadot-Kristen Wiig movie to summer is still on the table; specifically June 4, 2021, the first weekend of that month where Wonder Woman launched to $103.2M domestic three years ago. As of tonight, Warner Bros. reps are declining comment on Bloomberg’s speculative piece only to say “WW1984 will be in theaters.”

 

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Just now, theCapraAegagrus said:

Wait, what?

I have AT&T. How do I get this? Do I already, unknowingly, have it?

I switched to AT&T last month and they offered me HBO Max for free for life for signing up. It was definitely an incentive for me to switch. I think it's BS that they offer this stuff to new sign-ups but don't throw longtime customers a bone.

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2 minutes ago, @therealsilvermane said:

I switched to AT&T last month and they offered me HBO Max for free for life for signing up. It was definitely an incentive for me to switch. I think it's BS that they offer this stuff to new sign-ups but don't throw longtime customers a bone.

It looks like it's dependent on which package you subscribe to. I don't need 400 channels. lol

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3 minutes ago, @therealsilvermane said:

I switched to AT&T last month and they offered me HBO Max for free for life for signing up. It was definitely an incentive for me to switch. I think it's BS that they offer this stuff to new sign-ups but don't throw longtime customers a bone.

:gossip: If you have HBO today via most major providers, you get HBO Max for FREE as part of your subscriptions.

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9 minutes ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

It looks like it's dependent on which package you subscribe to. I don't need 400 channels. lol

The HBO Max came with signing up for AT&T internet service only. I'm done with cable. I did get My AT&T TV streaming service as well, though, but it had nothing to do with whether I got HBO Max or not.

 

Edited by @therealsilvermane
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I will really be pissed if theaters go away but can't movies like WW2 make some decent cash by going pay per watch for a month and then sell the rights to the highest bidder?  They keep talking about WW1 grossing 750 million so they seem to have that figure in their heads for all hit movies but maybe they should expect double their money and be cool with it.  Drop the price they pay for talent and make movies for less then 200 million and maybe they won't have to wait a year to release a movie.  The number of people who would pay $5 for a hit movie in their houses has to be may, way more then people willing to pony up $8 - $10 to go to the theaters.  Let's be a bit creative guys and there is still a boat load of money to be made in increase merchandise that can be sold with all the additional watchers and people stuck at home.

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On 10/8/2020 at 9:56 AM, Buzzetta said:

Covid 19 made people realize that perhaps that no longer NEED to go to a theater anymore. 

Jenkins is merely one of many who have said this so I do not want anyone thinking I am beating up on her here.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-patty-jenkins/wonder-woman-director-warns-movie-going-could-become-extinct-idUSKBN26S2QF

Maybe, just maybe... movies should be scaled back a bit.

If they want to keep the prices the same...whatevs... but maybe for more of these movies to be profitable they need to decrease budgets and do more with less.  It seems that each and every movie needs to outdo the others.  There are a lot of classic movies that have become classics that could be made even at today's inflation rate at a fraction of what it costs to make some of these flicks.

Maybe then it will be profitable to watch movies again in the theater with half audiences until life readjusts.  Maybe then it will be profitable to put these things on a streaming service.  Somehow Netflix is spending a ga-jillion on original content and seems to be making that model work for them. 

Alien.

One of the greatest movies ever made, on a reasonably small budget.

Sometimes, less IS more.

 

2c

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6 hours ago, Bosco685 said:

:gossip: If you have HBO today via most major providers, you get HBO Max for FREE as part of your subscriptions.

I just signed up for a free year of Apple +... 

We will see how it goes and then I make a decision whether or not to keep it for $5 a month starting next November 13th.

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9 hours ago, jsilverjanet said:

This news is surprising

All throughout 2020: Ever-changing movie schedules and streaming decisions

WGTC: We have insider news WB is skipping theaters

Bloomberg: WB may skip theaters or roll out a combo theater/streaming plan

WB: We haven't decided yet!

Again, nobody attacked you. We were laughing at WGTC. They saying any and all rumors so when one sticks finally, they can proclaim once again how accurate they are.

:tink:

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Just move Wonder Woman 1984 to June 4, 2021, give Warner Bros. an A+ tentpole for next summer and watch the global grosses pour in...

 

The latest non-update in regard to Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 is that Warner Bros. (or, specifically AT&T T +1.7%) is mulling a shortened theatrical run beginning on Christmas Day followed by an HBO Max debut in January of 2021. That’s not dissimilar to what Universal is up to in regard to their deal with AMC, as this weekend’s big release (Freaky) will be available on PVOD on November 30 for those who don’t want to/can’t go to theaters right now. But here’s the difference: Universal and Focus’ slew of upcoming theatrical releases is partially about helping keep the lights on for theaters so that Universal’s mega-movies (No Time to Die, F9, Minions 2, etc.) can thrive next year. Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman 1984 IS a mega-movie, and AT&T would be foolish to sacrifice its theatrical potential to the streaming gods.

 

The more likely scenario being floated by Warner Bros., as long suggested by me, is that Wonder Woman 1984 will move to June 4, 2021, which will see The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It pushed to September 10, 2021. That will put both big WB franchise flicks one year from their 2020 release dates and on safe/familiar seasonal turf. Wonder Woman opened on that same June weekend in 2017, while New Line has ruled the post-Labor Day weekend with It, The Nun and It: Chapter Two. If Wonder Woman can kick butt one month after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in 2017, then Wonder Woman 1984 can kick butt one month after Black Widow in 2021. Yes, F9 may be bigger Memorial Day weekend competition than Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, but not dramatically so.

Next summer is pretty crowded, but not excessively so. So many of the previous summer 2021 biggies (Jurassic World: Dominion, John Wick: Chapter 4, Spider-Man 3, etc.) have moved elsewhere that next summer is mostly a redo of this past summer. With The Matrix 4 and The Batman now opening outside of summer 2021, WB’s summer line-up is comparatively weaker. Pushing Wonder Woman 1984 to June of next year would give WB an A+ summer 2021 tentpole (alongside Godzilla Vs. Kong, In the Heights, Space Jam: A New Legacy and The Suicide Squad) that it is otherwise lacking. Even if you argue that Wonder Woman 1984 being in theaters now helps “save” theaters, they already had to fall on the sword with Tenet. How many times must Warner Bros. sacrifice their A+ tentpoles because the federal government couldn’t agree on a bailout?

 

News of a possible vaccine becoming available early next year, to say nothing of a hopefully more… aggressive federal government response to the pandemic beginning on January 20, means that the theatrical industry could be on the road to (relative) recovery by the time No Time to Die opens worldwide on April 2, 2021. Even if Wonder Woman 1984 released in June of 2021 may not reach its top-tier potential (over/under $850 million, depending on reviews, buzz and its reception in China thanks to their recent embrace of Marvel and DC flicks). But it won’t make much money at all as a random selection on a streaming platform. If the goal is for Wonder Woman 1984, a franchise installment of Warner Bros.’ biggest ongoing brand, to make as much money as possible, then the only answer is a global theatrical release.

 

Yes, Disney+ has 73 million subscribers, a number that caused its stock to increase a tad despite major losses for the company elsewhere. That’s, I’d argue, specifically because Disney+ showed investors that the Mouse House still had a potent revenue stream even with live sports, theatrical movies, theme parks and cruise ships closed or suppressed. I’d argue they are stuffing Disney+ with big content (including Pixar’s Soul) to create the illusion of overall success until the theme parks, cruise ships and sporting events return to normal. Yes, Universal is releasing a slew of smaller movies (give or take The Croods: A New Age which presumably cost $90-$120 million) in theaters only to debut them on PVOD weeks later, but that’s about testing the small window with sacrificial lambs. They aren’t throwing F9 onto Thanksgiving weekend or debuting Minions 2 on Peacock.


Even if Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max led to a whopping five million new subscribers, that’d still be $75 million in new monthly revenue or about what the studio would have gotten back from the theaters via an entirely plausible (under ideal circumstances) $150 million domestic opening weekend. If it were to earn $750 million worldwide in theaters, including $100 million in China (where the studio would only get back 25%), that would be around $350 million back to the studio. To make up that figure via its offering just as an HBO Max title, it would have to earn 24 million new subscribers (at $15 a pop) or (for example) nab five million subscribers and have none of them cancel for five months. No, that wouldn’t account for overseas theatrical grosses and whatever it makes in America in its brief theatrical run, but I digress.

 

I absolutely understand the thinking in terms of getting Wonder Woman 1984 out into the world and off the books. It was supposed to first open in November of 2019, and its apparent Donald Trump-ish baddie (Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord, a character initially inspired by Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor in Superman and Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gekko in Wall Street) may not be as topical several months into a Joe Biden administration. However, there’s no guarantee that dropping Wonder Woman 1984 onto HBO Max (following a brief theatrical run beginning on Christmas Day) would cause a slew of new permanent subscribers. Conversely, releasing the film worldwide on June 4, 2021 would (barring further Coronavirus issues) almost certainly deliver a good-to-great global gross, while preserving their biggest brand as “theater-worthy.” Throwing Wonder Woman 1984 to HBO Max would be sacrificing your queen to save your knight.

 

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I get what Mendelson is saying, however at the same time it isn't positive that the theaters would be open again in summer of 2021.  Not everyone in the U.S. (much less the world) will have been vaccinated by then.  Warner Bros. has a tough decision to make, no way around it.  But to automatically say that sending the movie straight(ish) to streaming is a terrible idea is talking out of turn a bit, IMO.  

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9 minutes ago, media_junkie said:

I get what Mendelson is saying, however at the same time it isn't positive that the theaters would be open again in summer of 2021.  Not everyone in the U.S. (much less the world) will have been vaccinated by then.  Warner Bros. has a tough decision to make, no way around it.  But to automatically say that sending the movie straight(ish) to streaming is a terrible idea is talking out of turn a bit, IMO.  

^^

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If  ultimately theaters die or not, there is such a backlog of movies in the pipeline that many of these are getting "old".  Some of the themes and references (like political ones) often age badly, as do fashions etc.  These movies risk looking dated, even if new.  All of which can effect the bottom line. All of these movie are losing money via interest on loans as they sit there. At some point they will be forced to release them, and streaming is the only viable way right now.  Ultimately, the movie companies need money, and their balance sheets are so in the red, all of them will eventually get dumped.

 

For now the prospect of any movie making 1 billion is zero, and the likelihood of any film making big money is very low for the next 3 to 5 years.  Film makers are going to be forced to make smaller films, with the largest possible audience for the next few years.  So I think you are going to see a proliferation of cheaper high appeal films (think Joker), as well gambles on small budget films with possible high return.  It is going to be years till we see a film with a $200 or $300 million dollar budget, because the possible return is just too low, and the companies have no money and no income. These big budget movies being held back like WW84, James Bond, even Black Widow are currently relics of a big budget tentpole golden age which may be over.  Money is going to be even tighter since many properties will continue to be moved to streaming series, where the immediate return is much better. The next few years are going to be very rough for movies, and even worse for theaters.

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