Wonder Woman 1984 has only just released, but Warner Bros. has already announced a planned third movie. According to Variety, the studio is fast-tracking another sequel for DC’s heroine. Not only is star Gal Gadot returning, but writer and director Patty Jenkins as well. Warner Bros. chief Toby Emmerich issued the following statement:
As fans around the world continue to embrace Diana Prince, driving the strong opening weekend performance of ‘Wonder Woman 1984,’ we are excited to be able to continue her story with our real life Wonder Women — Gal and Patty — who will return to conclude the long-planned theatrical trilogy.”
Wonder Woman 1984’s Success In These Strange Times
Wonder Woman 1984 is the first movie of WB’s projects to debut on HBO Max on the same day as in theaters. Variety states most viewers turned to the streaming platform for its Christmas Day release. However, its theatrical numbers were still impressive. According to the article, the sequel brought in $16.7 million across 2,100 theaters in North America. While that doesn’t sound like much, it’s enough to warrant a sequel. It’s the best opening weekend to date during the coronavirus pandemic.
It may be difficult to quantify streaming numbers versus ticket sales. But the HBO Max launch of Wonder Woman 1984 was apparently quite successful as well. Andy Forssell, Executive Vice President and General Manager of WarnerMedia Direct-to-Consumer, issued a statement expressing his excitement and explaining as such:
Wonder Woman 1984 broke records and exceeded our expectations across all of our key viewing and subscriber metrics in its first 24 hours on the service, and the interest and momentum we’re seeing indicates this will likely continue well beyond the weekend. During these very difficult times, it was nice to give families the option of enjoying this uplifting film at home, where theater viewing wasn’t an option.”
With this news, Jenkins’ schedule will be pretty full up for a few years. She will also helm Rogue Squadron, set within the Star Wars universe. That won’t release until December of 2023. It sounds as if she’ll be working on that before returning to Wonder Woman, so we’ll likely be waiting on this one for a while.
What did you think of Wonder Woman 1984? Are you a fan of Gal Gadot’s performance? Let us know in the comments below.