When Warner Bros. announced last month that WONDER WOMAN 1984 would open on Dec. 25, Christmas Day, I, like many people I'm sure, had my doubts. This was the sixth time that Warners had rescheduled Princess Diana's next big adventure, so unless the world is gifted some manner of Christmas miracle, it's likely that the much-anticipated sequel will be moved once again. As it turns out, members of the core cast and crew also have little faith in the film's Christmas Day debut, including Pedro Pascal, and the film's director, Patty Jenkins.
Recently when asked about Wonder Woman 1984's forever-shifting release dates, Variety says that Pascal "basically shrugged" as his response.
“As far as movie releases are concerned and the tremendous way that the industry is having to improvise around these circumstances, nothing is surprising,” Pascal said. “We’re all getting used to things shifting day-to-day, hour-to-hour, you know? That’s what we’re all dealing with.”
Damn you, coronavirus pandemic. Not only are you killing people and have left several businesses on the verge of collapse, but you're also stepping to Wonder Woman, too? That's quite the bold move, though I suppose you're used to getting your way, eh?
In a separate interview, Variety asked Jenkins about her confidence in Diana coming to save Christmas for all the good boys and girls, but again, a grim picture was painted. “I don’t think anybody can be confident of anything right now,” Jenkins said. “We just don’t know what the course of COVID is going to be like.” However, before sounding like she was too defeated, Jenkins added that she's "very hopeful" the film can open on its intended date. "It feels totally possible to me,” Jenkins was sure to point out.
“It’s unbelievably surreal,” Jenkins said. “The biggest surreality about it is it’s supposed to be one adventure, right? You sign on to the movie, you write the movie, you direct the movie, you make the movie, the movie comes out, and you move on. Instead, like, I spent three years doing one thing, seven days a week, and then I just popped out of it to just nothing. No evidence of that [work].”
While continuing her talk with Variety, Jenkins remarked about dedicating one's self to a tremendous film project that has yet to be released in theaters.
“It’s unbelievably surreal,” Jenkins said. “The biggest surreality about it is it’s supposed to be one adventure, right? You sign on to the movie, you write the movie, you direct the movie, you make the movie, the movie comes out, and you move on. Instead, like, I spent three years doing one thing, seven days a week, and then I just popped out of it to just nothing. No evidence of that [work].”
Before Jenkins took her position on the matter too far, she backed up a bit. “I mean, that’s not true. I still work on, you know, Doritos bags and stuff like that all the time,” she said. “For the longest time, the only people who’d seen the movie were the people who’d worked on the movie,” she elaborated. “We just showed our own agents. That was thrilling, to finally get to talk to people who didn’t know what the movie was. But it’s super weird to go from making a movie with such detail and being so excited for the experience of people getting to share in that with you, and then just going on to cleaning your house and cooking.”
The coronavirus pandemic has taken a mental (and physical) toll on us all, and that includes many of Hollywood's heaviest hitters. It could very well be that we don't see Wonder Woman 1984 until sometime next year, perhaps over the summer? From what I've gathered, Warners and Jenkins alike are determined to release WW 1984 in theaters, as opposed to shifting to HBO Max or some other PVOD arrangement. This being the case, it's up to us to do what we can to quell the pandemic, so that we can all get back to our lives, which includes taking trips to the theater.
For the moment, Wonder Woman 1984 is still scheduled for a Christmas Day release, but we'll see.