'Wonder Woman 1984' Fails To Fly In China
Wonder Woman 1984 is yet to open in the United States, but Warner Bros. has already rolled out the film in a number of international markets over the weekend. And based on initial numbers coming out of China, it looks like the superhero film is in for a difficult time at the box office.
Variety reports that Wonder Woman 1984 only ended up taking in $18.8 million in the Chinese market. It is $20 million less than what the first Wonder Woman film earned in China and is a sign that the superhero sequel might not surpass the $90.5 million that the first film made in the country.
The numbers in other countries where Wonder Woman 1984 opened in theaters are also not encouraging. The film has been shown in theaters in 32 territories, including Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, Thailand, and Brazil. It earned the most in Taiwan with $3.6 million, and only earned $1.6 million in both Japan and Mexico.
As pointed out by The Hollywood Reporter, Wonder Woman 1984 was even trounced at the box office by the local film The Rescue, which earned $36 million at the box office. This was the amount that Wonder Woman 1984 was predicted to make due to China’s preference for superhero movies.
Wonder Woman 1984 has now made $38.5 million overseas, with $3.8 million of those coming from IMAX theaters in China. In total, the film earned $5 million from IMAX screenings around the world.
These numbers do not bode well for Wonder Woman 1984 as it continues to open in different countries around the world. Its box office numbers may also be significantly affected by its concurrent release on the streaming service HBO Max as well as its early release in other premium video-on-demand (PVOD) platforms.
For instance, news broke a couple of weeks ago that the United Kingdom would be getting Wonder Woman 1984 on PVOD after spending just a month in theaters. Pay-TV company Sky and Warner Bros. were reportedly coming up with a deal to make it happen.
Usually, films would spend four months in theaters in the United Kingdom before they could be released on PVOD. Should talks push through, Wonder Woman 1984 may soon be available on the Sky Cinema movie service or the Sky Store in just a month.
A concurrent release on streaming services or a shortened theatrical window may soon become the norm, especially since the global coronavirus pandemic is still very much an issue worldwide. As of the Dec. 20 update from the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 dashboard, there are now 75,110,651 confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world. Deaths caused by COVID-19 worldwide are now at 1,680,395 people.