Wonder Woman 1984 grabs US$38.5 million in international markets
This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Gal Gadot in a scene from "Wonder Woman 1984." The superhero sequel earned an estimated US$38.5 million in ticket sales from international theaters, Warner Bros. said Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020. (Clay Enos/Warner Bros. via AP)
The superhero sequel Wonder Woman 1984 has earned an estimated US$38.5 million (S$51.25 million) in ticket sales from international theatres, Warner Bros said on Sunday (Dec 20). The film starring Gal Gadot started its rollout abroad last week, opening in 32 markets including China and playing on upwards of 30,000 screens. The studio said admissions totalled over 6 million and that the largely positive reviews bode well for its future.
The film opened in Singapore on Dec 17.
READ: Why Gal Gadot has a ‘love-hate relationship’ with her Wonder Woman costume
Most of the earnings came from Chinese theatres, where it earned an estimated US$18.8 million. It wasn’t enough to take first place in the country, however – that honour went to a local release.
Wonder Woman 1984 won’t open in US theatres until Christmas Day, when it will also debut on HBO Max. The pandemic has forced studios like Warner Bros to embrace unconventional release plans to get films out to audiences.
Originally, Wonder Woman 1984 was supposed to open in theatres worldwide this summer, but its release date kept getting pushed back. The first film made over US$821 million worldwide in 2017 and absent the pandemic, the hope was that the sequel, which cost around US$200 million to make, would even surpass that total.
Warner Bros has tried a few different strategies with its films this year, including releasing Tenet in theatres and sending The Witches straight to HBO Max. Finally last month the studio decided to embrace a hybrid release for Wonder Woman 1984. Tenet opened internationally first as well, taking off with US$53 million from 41 markets in late August.
(Source: AP)
