Breaking from tradition amid the ongoing pandemic, Warner Bros. isn't providing numbers for 'Wonder Woman 1984' in the customary fashion until the end of the weekend.
Normally, a Hollywood studio would blare the trumpets if one of its movies topped the box office chart on Christmas Day, a busy time for moviegoing once presents are unwrapped.
But this year — amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — Warner Bros. is breaking from industry tradition and shielding grosses for Wonder Woman 1984 from view until Sunday, Dec. 27. (Sony is doing the same with Monster Hunter, which is heading into its second weekend).
WW84, which debuted simultaneously on HBO Max and in U.S. cinemas on Dec. 25, will no doubt win the holiday frame once numbers are revealed.
Save for Warners and Sony, other studios are reporting in the usual fashion via Comscore, the industry receptacle for real-time theater grosses.
Universal's adult drama News of the World, directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Tom Hanks, opened to $1.1 million from 1,900 cinemas on Christmas Day.
Among the other movies daring to launch over the holiday amid the COVID-19 crisis and theater reclosures, Focus Features' specialty film A Promising Young Woman started off Christmas Day with an estimated $270,000 from 1,310 sites.
Both News of the World and Promising Young Woman are planting a flag in this year's delayed awards race. Universal has the leeway to continue to release films in movie houses because of its new premium VOD window, which allows a title to play in the home 17 days or more after it hits the big screen.
After delaying the release of WW84 numerous times because of the pandemic, Warner Bros. and parent company WarnerMedia decided to shatter the theatrical window entirely and open the film on the same day on HBO Max and in whatever theaters remain open (or roughly 2,150 locations). Nearly 60 percent of the North American box office is offline in terms of marketshare.
The sequel, which reunites director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot, should easily post the top three-day opening since the pandemic began with a number in the mid-teens. That would be a needed victory considering the challenges facing the box office, which is down 80 percent year over year.
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