Could 'Wonder Woman 1984' end up competing with 'Black Widow'? Further release delays might make it inevitable
The coronavirus pandemic has caused delays in the release of movies and shows across the board. The superhero genre has been pretty badly hit by this situation, with two major releases 'Black Widow' and 'Wonder Woman 1984' delayed to later this year.
'WW84' had already been through a string of delays before settling on a June 5 release date. Unfortunately, it was further delayed to August 14 and now Connie Nielsen, who plays Queen Hippolyta in the movie, has cast further doubts on whether the movie will see the release date.
"I don't know about the August deadline there. We can all cross fingers and I sure hope so," Nielsen told ABC News about 'Wonder Woman 1984' while promoting her new movie 'Sea Fever'.
"The invention of a remedy against this virus will certainly make everything a lot easier. Everyone is waiting to get back to work as well, we're all waiting to get started on our next projects, so having access to either a vaccine or at least a remedy will be a good thing for us all."
Considering neither a vaccine nor a cure has been released publically yet, there's a pretty good chance the movie will, in fact, be delayed. And if the delays take it all the way to November, we could be looking at a situation where 'WW84' has to directly compete with Marvel's 'Black Widow'.
Of course, there's the possibility that the movie could be released digitally instead, but Warner Bros. has made it pretty clear that that's not high on their list of options.
"When we greenlit WW 1984 it was with every intention to be viewed on the big screen and are excited to announce that Warner Bros. Pictures will be bringing the film to theatres on August 14," Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group Chairman Toby Emmerich previously said in a statement while announcing the current release date.
"We hope the world will be in a safer and healthier place by then," he added.
One might argue that pushing the movie all the way to November is unlikely, especially since competing with 'Black Widow' would bring down the movie's potential profits. However, if the situation doesn't improve any time soon, there may not be another option.