‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Could Skip Theaters Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

Is ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ coming soon to theaters?

As movie theaters close world wide for an unknown amount of time, Warner Bros. is reportedly considering whether to take their upcoming D.C. Comics movie “Wonder Woman 1984” directly to streaming platforms and skip movie theaters.

The Wrap reports Warner Bros has not decided, and meetings are ongoing between Warner Pictures Group Chairman Toby Emmerich and his top advisors. Also, sources close to The Wrap report the movie’s director Patty Jenkins and executive producer Charles Roven are not involved in the decision-making for the upcoming future of ‘Wonder Woman 1984’.

Currently, the movie is on track to hit theaters but, executives are considering streaming the video as direct-to-consumer instead of a Warner Bros’ subscription service HBO Max. The problem is, there is no known date as to when movie theaters will reopen, and there may be a shortage of favorable release dates once theaters do open for the many movies that studios have decided to due to the Coronavirus. ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ is still set to hit theaters on June 4ht.

Universal recently decided to distribute the ‘Trolls World Tour’ via streaming platforms for a 48-hour rental charge of $19.99. The decision came after the spread of Coronavirus was a top priority, but U.S. movie theaters were still open. Since then, theater chains have closed indefinitely across the United States.

Universal is also planning to release new video-on-demand movies for three films, including “The Hunt,” The Invisible Man,” and “Emma.” Several others have followed suit for films just in theaters, including Warner’s “Birds of Prey” and “The Way Back,” Sony’s “Bloodshot,” Disney’s “Onward” and Lionsgate’s “I Still Believe.”

‘Wonder Woman’ is an entirely different type of movie. In 2017, ‘Wonder Woman’ was the highest-grossing film by a female director and the 10th highest-grossing movie of 2017. Based on the success of the first film, analysts expect the movie to surpass 2017’s earnings. For example, ‘Aquaman’ made $1.15 billion on a $160 million budget.

‘Wonder Woman 1984’ is set during the late height of the Cold War and features Gal Gadot as Diana Prince as she battles the villain Cheetah, who is played by Kristen Wiig. The movie also sees Jenkins return and Chris Pine as Steve Trevor.

In related news, the Coronavirus is killing jobs and leaving millions unemployed. Americans filing for unemployment benefits reached its highest numbers in two years for the week of March 14. However, job losses are expected to climb in the next few weeks.

According to Goldman Sachs, more than 2 million Americans are set to lose their jobs and file unemployment by next week due to a massive “unprecedented surge” in layoffs. Goldman Sachs analysts added March 15 to the 21st will see “the largest increase in initial jobless claims and the highest level on record.”

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