Wonder Woman 1984 doesn’t open in the U.S. for a few more days, in both theaters and HBO Max, but in other parts of the world it hit theaters over the weekend. While it could be a long time before theatrical bounces back here, in China and other international territories they are long back to normal, which makes these numbers for the anticipated sequel so alarming.
Opening in China to a disappointing $18.8M, the international haul for Wonder Woman 1984 amounted to just $38.5M in 32 markets.
For context, 2017’s Wonder Woman debuted in China to $38M and would go on to earn $90M there overall. And I think it’s worth noting that Hollywood blockbusters have often struggled in China and that has definitely been the case this year. Tenet did just $29.6M a few months ago, and Disney’s numbers for Mulan were very underwhelming with $23M. China is the biggest driver of business outside of the U.S. so it’s imperative that a movie does well there and that is just not happening.
The success or fail of the film is going to depend on how it does domestically, however, Warner Bros. has an out no matter what. If it bombs, they’ll say it’s due to theaters not being ready or because people chose to stay home and watch it on HBO Max. And that gives them more cover for their strategy to release everything on streaming in 2021. [THR]
