Wonder Woman 1984: Patty Jenkins gets candid about HBO Max release

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Wonder Woman 1984 was chosen to lead the way with an unprecedented release strategy that sees the film hitting the HBO Max streaming service and movie theaters on the same day. It was a move that was praised by exhibitors until Warner Bros. made the decision to release their 2021 film slate of seventeen films in the same manner. It was a decision that the studio wasn't entirely transparent about with their major players involved in these various films but before that massive power play was made, Wonder Woman 1984 was to be the test subject, and director Patty Jenkins is getting candid about the decision as she says there was "no good option" for the film's release in the wake of the pandemic.

Jenkins discussed the decision during an interview with Jess Cagle on the "SiriusXM Stars" channel via that will air in its entirety next week but she does get pretty honest in the snippet that has been released about how she's not entirely for the plan but it's what they had to do:

"If you had told me a year ago that we would ever go straight to streaming in any way, shape or form, I would have flipped out. Like I’m not for that plan in general, you know, I’m, I’m, I’m very pro theatrical release and I will be that again, as soon as this is over. However, this is such a crazy year. It’s such a crazy year. It’s like all of us are trying to figure out with our lives, how to do everything the best we can. And so I kept saying there is no good option. Like when we would talk about it, there was no good option. Wait until when. And then every movie in the world tries to come out at the same time. And you know, there was no good option. I literally gasped a little bit when the pitch for this idea was said, because I was like, ‘Oh, the idea of it going into people’s homes on Christmas Day."

It appears that at the end of the day, Jenkins felt like it would be the best kind of gift on Christmas day for people to see the film however they are able to to see it. The director added, “I just was like, you know what, that’s actually pretty incredible to get to share whether, you know, it’s Christmas for people or not the holiday season and in this moment to just try to reach people however they can see it.”

What seems to be the case with Jenkins doesn't seem to be the situation with the other filmmaking talent that found out the news that their Warners films would be hitting streaming and theaters on the same day. There are various reports that James Gunn, who directed The Suicide Squad, isn't thrilled with the decision and the same can be said for Dune's Denis Villeneuve. Christopher Nolan was pretty vocal about how poor he thought the decision was during interviews with "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Hollywood Reporter" but since he went public with his displeasure, some have pointed out that his insistence that Tenet got a proper theatrical release, which underperformed domestically, is the reason Warner Bros. had to look into this release plan. They threw a $200 million film out into a marketplace that wasn't back online 100% and while the global numbers are pretty good, it was clear that not even a Nolan film could really break the 2020 COVID curse in the States. 

A report from "The New York Times" suggests that in the days leading up to the announcement for Wonder Woman's release strategy that Warner Bros. approached two of Hollywood's biggest talent agencies, William Morris Endeavor, which represents Gal Gadot, and Creative Artists, which represents Patty Jenkins, to get them both on board for the new plan. According to the report, the agencies wanted to know how the studio intended to reimburse their clients for the profits lost from streaming the film since the movie likely would have made a lot more money for Gadot, Jenkins, and their agencies if the film would've had a purely theatrical release. It's said that "After a tense negotiation, Warner Bros., which is owned by AT&T, agreed that Ms. Gadot and Ms. Jenkins would each get more than $10 million, according to two people with knowledge of the deals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private agreements." If that's the case, it's no surprise why Gadot and Jenkins got on board so fast because at least they were included in the deal-making as all these changes were beginning to take place.

What are YOUR thoughts on Wonder Woman 1984's release strategy? Was this the only good option?