Back when times were certain and precedented, before the Coronavirus pandemic changed everything, Wonder Woman 1984 was named as the most hotly anticipated blockbuster of 2020, and stood a real shot at reaching a billion dollars at the box office. Of course, now that people have seen the movie and it’s splitting them right down the middle, that might not have turned out to be the case, but hindsight is always 20/20.
Patty Jenkins’ sequel may have scored the biggest opening weekend domestically since March, but it was released internationally nine days before it arrived on HBO Max and in theaters on this side of the pond and still hasn’t cracked $70 million overseas. However, Wonder Woman 3 was fast-tracked into development just two days after the second installment debuted, so Warner Bros. must be very happy with the numbers the movie has been pulling in so far.
In fact, Wonder Woman 1984 has become the biggest streaming release of 2020, beating out some heavy hitters like Pixar’s Soul, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and the filmed version of Hamilton by drawing in the biggest audience over its first week. Over half of HBO Max’s entire subscriber base watched the DCEU adventure on Christmas Day, while many more signed up to the platform specifically to see Gal Gadot’s return as Diana Prince as soon as it was added to the library.
Over half a million people also downloaded the HBO Max app during the holiday weekend, and while it remains to be seen how many of them will remain paying customers for the foreseeable future, now that Wonder Woman 1984 has drawn them in, the roster of high profile projects coming to the streaming service over the next twelve months should in theory be more than enough to entice them.