Being a superhero means fighting villains while exceptionally fun outfits, but it also means doing the right thing, and protecting others. And as expected, Wonder Woman will do just that.
Patty Jenkins, who helmed the original film and now its sequel, Wonder Woman 1984, announced that the film will be released on December 25 in whichever theaters are still open by then, but will be streaming on HBO Max in the U.S. for a month starting on Christmas Day. (In other countries where HBO Max isn’t available, the film starts rolling out December 16).
"THE TIME HAS COME," wrote Jenkins on Twitter. "At some point you have to choose to share any love and joy you have to give, over everything else. We love our movie as we love our fans, so we truly hope that our film brings a little bit of joy and reprieve to all of you this holiday season."
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Jenkins only suggested that audiences watch the movie in theaters if and where it was safe to do so as our country enters a dangerous second wave of COVID-19. Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot supported Jenkins call to give the film a home release: "It wasn't an easy decision and we never thought we'd have to hold on to the release for such a long time but COVID rocked all of our worlds," she wrote on Twitter.
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) November 18, 2020
Many critics anticipated a home release after the movie was pushed multiple times due to the pandemic. There is, of course, some sense of disappointment in watching an action-packed movie full of special effects on a smaller living room TV, or even a *shivers* laptop. The original Wonder Woman's cultural impact was expounded by its theatrical buzz, earning more than $828 million at the worldwide box office. Fans went to the theaters two, three times to see Diana Prince leave the Amazon world to save our broken one. It became more than a blockbuster hit (the highest grossing domestic film by a female director, ever) — it became a historic moment, proving skeptics who thought a woman couldn't lead a superhero movie so, so wrong.
However, as Jenkins and Gadot underscored, it's more important to make sure people can enjoy it without putting themselves or others in harm's way. After all, that's what Wonder Woman would want.