Could ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Hit HBO Max in January?

The battle over Wonder Woman 1984 rages on. According to Bloomberg, Warner Bros. is currently debating whether to debut Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman sequel on HBO Max in early January, just a few weeks after its currently-scheduled December 25 theatrical release, or to push the film to Summer 2021. Decider has reached out to HBO Max for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication.

Sources close to the situation tell Bloomberg that WarnerMedia is in “the final stages of deliberations over the fate of” Wonder Woman 1984, and the Christmas Day release-to-on-demand option is gaining support among execs. Currently, the Wonder Woman follow-up is the only tentpole film still scheduled to debut in theaters this year, and as such, some cinema owners seem open to this possibility, regardless of how short the theatrical window may be.

Directed by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman 1984 was originally slated to hit theaters June 5, and it was expected to be one of the largest box office successes of the summer (the first film grossed $822 million worldwide when it was released in 2017). However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic complicated the film’s release schedule: the release date has been pushed back multiple times, from June 5 to August 14, then to October 2, and now to December 25. Now, as coronavirus cases surge across the country, Warner Bros. is facing another round of potential cinema closures, prompting execs to rethink their strategy.

According to Variety, if Warner Bros. opts to push Wonder Woman to Summer 2021 rather than go the streaming route, it could shift the studio’s lineup considerably. Sources say that either a June or July release is possible, which would bump a New Line Cinema horror film or LeBron James’ Space Jam sequel, respectively.

Regardless of what Warner Bros. decides, it’s likely that HBO Max is gearing up for some kind of holiday-season surprise. In an interview with Scott Porch for Decider, HBO Max chief Andy Forssell seemed to hint that the streamer will have a high-profile release on Christmas Day. “I have nothing I can share right now. I have one specific thing in mind that I can’t talk about,” siad Forssell, after a long pause.

Forssell added that WarnerMedia does, in fact, have a plan for Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, which opened in limited release in September. “I can’t announce it now, but there is a defined timeline for that. Christopher Nolan has been pretty involved in that, but I can’t talk any more about it,” he told Decider. “Tenet is a phenomenal film, and it was a testing point for the theatrical window where it’s done really, really well. In this environment, decisions aren’t final until you execute, but we have a pretty good idea what’s going to happen.”

Could this mean that Tenet or Wonder Woman 1984 will be debuting on HBO Max on December 25? Only time will tell!

Where to stream Wonder Woman