Wonder Woman 1984 has had quite the journey to its release which finally came on Christmas day. After several delays due to the pandemic, Wonder Woman 1984 finally made its debut but the response has been REALLY polarizing. The film currently sits with a 63% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes & the audience score clocks in at 72%. That's down considerably from the 93% rating for the first film & the 84% audience score as well. Now, as we look at the IMDB rating, the film is taking a beating on that end as well.
According to IMDB, Wonder Woman 1984 holds a 5.7 rating, as of this writing. That puts it just below director David Ayer's Suicide Squad, which holds a 6. The decline from movie-to-movie is significant, as the original Wonder Woman is the top-rated DCEU movie on the site. It currently holds a 7.4 rating. Man of Steel and Shazam! follow, with both sitting at 7. Up next is Aquaman at a 6.9 and that's followed by Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice at 6.4 and Justice League at 6.3. Birds of Prey rounds things out at 6.1.
IMDB isn't a true barometer of the quality of a film because there is the issue of trolls giving films low scores, even when they haven't seen the movie yet. This could be playing a factor in what's going on with Wonder Woman 1984 but given how mixed the reaction has been as a whole, I suspect that this score isn't too far off from where it would have typically fallen. I watched the film last night and while it had some positives, it was a definite mixed bag compared to its predecessor and there were major issues with the script. I didn't mind the shift in tone when compared to the first film because that was to be expected given the more vibrant time period of the '80s but the pacing was also an issue. After a rousing start that consists of two fun opening scenes, the movie slows to a snail's pace for nearly an hour before more action transpires. A lack of action can be tolerated if the narrative is interesting enough to hold our attention but the film meanders for so long that you nearly lose interest in being invested.
Despite the middling reviews, the film has grossed $85 million worldwide to date & its $16.7 million 3-day opening is the best we've seen during the pandemic. Considering how mixed some are on the film, I wonder how well the movie would be doing in a normal box office climate. Mixed reviews travel fast & it can definitely hurt the box office. The big mystery in all of this is if Wonder Woman 1984 could actually overcome some of the mixed response if moviegoing was 100% healthy.
There is more good news to go along with the as good as can be expected box office. On the HBO Max side of things, WarnerMedia reports that Wonder Woman 1984 was viewed by “nearly half of the platform’s retail subscribers viewing the film on the day of its arrival, along with millions of wholesale subscribers who have access to HBO Max via a cable, wireless, or other partner services. HBO Max also saw the total viewing hours on Friday more than triple in comparison to a typical day in the previous month."
What are YOUR thoughts on the IMDB rating? Is it deserved?