Patty Jenkins is now part of a growing number of directors who are horrified that you can watch their films on television screens, even if it's during a pandemic. Shell is in good Hollywood company. Tenets Christopher Nolan, and Dunes Denis Villeneuve also went out of their way decrying their simultaneous release on streaming and in theaters.
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Nolan, who only released the movie in theaters, said that he was just delighted with Tenets $363m box office compared to Inceptions $836m. However, Jenkins Wonder Woman 1984 was also available on HBO Max the day it was released. It grossed a paltry $166 million in worldwide box office, compared to Wonder Woman's original movie of $822 million. This makes sense as the film was released on Christmas Day 2020, when there was a resurgence in the covid-19 pandemic. This is a significant dropoff and Jenkins is confident that allowing people to watch the film at their homes will not affect WW84's take. Jenkins stated that the home release was detrimental to the film at CinemaCon. Deadline reported this statement. He added, "I knew that could have happened."
Jenkins shares the sentiments of Villeneuve and Nolan. Jenkins wants movies to be seen on movie screen, which TV screens can never do justice to. She said that it doesn't play the same on streaming. Day-and-date is not something I like and I want to stop it. I make movies for the big-screen experience.
I respond by saying: Duh! Yes, Wonder Woman 1984 was less popular because it could be viewed at home. This statement overlooks several factors that forced studios to release these films for home viewing. Perhaps the most important was the global pandemic. Tenet was released in covid-19's first year, when theaters were closed and few people thought it worth going to the movies, much less Nolan's latest. All theaters in major U.S. cities, such as Los Angeles and New York City, were closed when Wonder Woman 1984 premiered. Many people saw the film only at home via HBO Max.
I'm not saying these movie studios are amorally trying to thwart selfish directors. They release movies online to drive subscriptions to their streaming services. These theaters knew that these releases would hurt their box office predictions, and they didn't want to lose any of it. Jenkins acknowledges this. She was happier with the decision than Jenkins, who stated that it was the best option out of a lot of bad choices.
It is a shame that directors continue to complain about the destruction of their artistic visions when it was the best they could do. While watching movies in theaters is a wonderful, unforgettable experience, it's not the same as not contracting the coronavirus. It would have been horrible if I had contracted it from Wonder Woman 1984's worst scenes. I wouldn't go back to the cinemas on principle.
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