Despite the pandemic, Wonder Woman 1984 was still a success with its box office and streaming numbers on HBO Max. Before it came out, the movie received some good reviews. However, when the movie was released, it lost its Certified Fresh standing on Rotten Tomatoes. Although some people say the movie was good, the film also received bad reviews.
One of the film's stars, Connie Nielsen, who plays the role of Queen Hippolyta, defended the DCEU movie. Nielsen blamed the delays, as well as its HBO Max release for the lukewarm reception of the film. Wonder Woman 1984 was the very first film of Warner Bros that was affected by the new distribution strategy for 2021.
For the uninitiated, WB movies slated in 2021 had the same-day release on theaters and HBO Max. This move was made to overcome the obstacles that were facing the cinemas due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the box office numbers are very low compared to the success of Wonder Woman in 2017, the sequel still provided HBO Max a boost in subscribers, making it still successful enough to have the third Wonder Woman movie immediately greenlighted by WB.
As the film is gearing up for a home video release, Nielsen spoke about the reception that WW84 received. In an interview with Den of Geek, Nielsen stated that the sequel was put under scrutiny that it did not deserve due to the many delays.
Here is Nielsen's statement:
"I think that what happens psychologically is that a lot of movies like that then get into this insecure territory where they're up for a judgment that would not normally have happened. The fact that it was moved so many times, put it under scrutiny that it did not deserve. It also, as a sophomore film, will always be compared to the one before."
Sequels have very high expectations to match which results in many fans often getting disappointed with a sequel of a previous highly-loved film. Still, the movie was able to overcome obstacles and still manage to be successful despite the circumstances surrounding its release.
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!
DC