Wonder Woman 1984 will finally be released in theaters or, at the very least, available on HBO Max on December 25.
Director Patty Jenkins initially expressed that she didn't want to send Wonder Woman 1984 straight to streaming; she wanted to make sure that audiences had the option to see her film in theaters. After the film's move to a hybrid release, Jenkins and Gal Gadot supported the shift since it still gave audiences a choice between seeing it at home or in theaters. However, in the end, especially after the continuous marketing for this movie and constantly changing release dates, Wonder Woman 1984 might not end up as huge of a success as its predecessor at no fault of its own.
In an attempt to mitigate this, Warner Bros. has announced the international release dates for the movie.
NEWS
Wonder Woman 1984 will be released in theaters and HBO Max concurrently on December 25, but the service isn't available overseas quite yet. Warner Bros. has reportedly decided to release Wonder Woman 1984 in internationa theaters early to avoid the inevitable piracy that would come with the release on HBO Max.
Below is the full international release plan:
Wednesday, December 16 — Belgium, Bulgaria. Egypt, Estonia, France, Greece, Holland, Iceland, Indonesia, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom
Thursday, December 17 — Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, Middle East – Other, Nicaragua, Panama, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates
Friday, December 18 — China, East Africa, Japan, Nigeria, Spain, Vietnam
Wednesday, December 23 — Austria, Germany, Korea
Thursday, December 24 — Hungary, Slovenia
Friday, December 25 — Canada, Colombia, Finland, India, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Venezuela, United States
Saturday, December 26 — Australia, New Zealand
Thursday, December 31 — Argentina
Thursday, January 7 — Ukraine, Uruguay
Friday, January 8 — Philippines
Thursday, January 14 — Azerbaijan, CIS Others, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Russia
Friday, January 15 — Romania, Turkey
Thursday, January 21 — Chile, Peru
Friday, January 22 — Poland
Thursday, January 28 — Italy
TBD — Bahrain, Ghana, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Asia – Other, LatAm – Other, Islands – Other
WHAT THIS MEANS
The vast majority of international countries will be able to see Wonder Woman 1984 before the U.S. on December 25, which was still a common practice for blockbuster releases even before the ongoing pandemic. It will actually be hugely beneficial to Warner Bros. since, as they rightfully fear, they'll be releasing Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max concurrently with its U.S. release, which will be pirated instantly.
There's also a question of whether or not lockdowns in other countries will change, like in the United Kingdom or Europe. The coronavirus spread is only getting worse, especially during the winter and holiday festivities. The one thing that Warner Bros. is likely hoping to happen is that this will attract more subscribers to HBO Max, but it feels like only a minimal gain since that service is only available in the U.S.
