Wonder Woman 1984 has been bumped back a whole seven months – moving from November 2019 to June 2020.
Gal Gadot announced the news herself in an Instagram post last night, adding a confusing caption that tried really hard to turn a bad thing into a good thing.
“Super excited to announce that, thanks to the changing landscape, we are able to put Wonder Woman back to its rightful home. June 5, 2020. Be there or be square!”
Putting Wonder Woman “back to its rightful home” seems to be referring to the fact that the first film came out during the first weekend of June in 2017, but it does seem a bit much to claim that slot as “home” after only one movie.
More interesting is the use of the phrase “changing landscape” which points to the frantic reshuffling that seems to be going on at DC and Marvel at the moment.
Aquaman is next out of the gate for DC in December, followed by Shazam! in April, but after that everything seems a bit up in the air. Joker is pegged for October 2019, but that’s not really a proper DCEU movie. Disney’s choice to bump Guardian’s Of The Galaxy Vol 3 (and their subsequent decision to rush Doctor Strange 2 into production), not to mention the fallout from their Fox merger, seems to have had a knock-on effect for DC – who will want to avoid any clashes with Marvel, as well as making use of any big gaps.
Wonder Woman 1984 is already midway through production, and it’s still on track on to wrap in December, so it doesn’t sound like the delay is being caused by anything other than scheduling tactics.
“We had tremendous success releasing the first Wonder Woman film during the summer so when we saw an opportunity to take advantage of the changing competitive landscape, we did,” Warner Bros. president of distribution, Jeff Goldstein, said in a statement. “This move lands the film exactly where it belongs.”
Not that we know anything about distribution strategy, but it does seem a bit odd. If the film came out in November 2019, as originally planned, it would have been competing with Zombieland 2, Sonic The Hedgehog and Terminator 6. In its new slot, it’s up against the likes of Godzilla vs Kong, Maleficent 2, Dwayne Johnston’s (and Gal Gadot’s) Red Notice, a new Pixar film and Top Gun: Maverick. Unless the “changing landscape” also points to something bigger going on in the DCEU?