Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins has commented on the "detrimental" impact of the DC sequel's day-and-date release.
As reported by Deadline, Jenkins shared her thoughts on Wonder Woman 1984's theatrical day-and-date model while speaking on a panel at CinemaCon on Thursday. She reportedly referred to the movie's release as a "heartbreaking experience," even though she acknowledged that it was "the best choice in a bunch of bad choices" at the time.
Warner Bros. announced its industry-shaking approach to distributing movies last year, revealing that the studio's entire 2021 film slate would be available concurrently for an exclusive window on HBO Max. WW84 was released in December, serving as an early test of how blockbuster movies might perform when given a day-and-date release.
The sequel to 2017's Wonder Woman got off to a slow start at the international box office, opening to just $18.8 million in China and a total of $38.5 million overseas. However, it then went on to earn $46.5 million in the U.S. market and $120 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $166.5 million against a $200 million budget.
"It was detrimental to the movie… I knew that could have happened," Jenkins said, referencing the movie's box office performance following its simultaneous release on HBO Max and in theaters. "I don't think it plays the same on streaming, ever. I'm not a fan of day-and-date and I hope to avoid it forever. I make movies for the big-screen experience."
Jenkins also affirmed that she would never make a movie for Netflix or any other streaming service, given the fact that those movies typically only get a short time in theaters before segueing to streaming. She admitted that "it's hard to market a movie when it has a limited run," whereas television is something that she likes working on with the streaming giant.
The release of WW84 on HBO Max helped to double the streamer's subscriber numbers in the fourth quarter of last year, with an estimated 554,000 users signing up between December 25 and December 27 alone. In addition, WarnerMedia noted that "nearly half" of its HBO Max subscriber base watched the superhero sequel on the day of its release.
Warner Bros. has already confirmed that Wonder Woman 3 is in development with director Patty Jenkins and lead star Gal Gadot both set to return, so you might want to check out 7 of the biggest WTF questions we had after watching the Wonder Woman sequel and read our explainer of the ending and how the movie could change the DCEU.
Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.