In news that truly shocked the movie industry as a whole just a few weeks ago, Warner Bros. announced its decision to make every single one of its new titles available on HBO Max the same day they'll drop in theaters. First in that lineup is the much-anticipated new Wonder Woman 1984 movie.
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The film—which will be available for free to all HBO Max subscribers this Friday, December 25—sees Gal Gadot reprise the titular role, this time in a sequel set in 1984 during the Cold War. Directed once more by Patty Jenkins, the movie follows the immense success of the first installment of the franchise, which debuted to critical and public acclaim back in June of 2017.
"As befits a movie set in Washington, Wonder Woman 1984 is unafraid to get political – the main villain is, after all, a wall-building TV personality and failed businessman with bad hair – and it also offers some peppery commentary on sleazy-but-sad blokes," writes our critic Phil de Semlyen in his 4-star review of the movie. "But despite all that female-first storytelling, [Kristen] Wiig is still left short-changed in her transformation from chew toy to supervillain. Even at 151 minutes, the film struggled to juggle its two villains (three, if you include the fanny packs) and squeeze in the Diana/Steve romance."
In addition to a pretty surprising villainous turn by the always-great Wiig, the production stars Chris Pine as Gadot's love interest Steve Trevor, plus Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen, among others.
Whether as good as the original film—or even entertaining at all—Wonder Woman 1984 is sure to say a lot more about the future of Hollywood than Jenkins' directing chops. Will Warner Bros.'s decision to drop all its 2021 titles directly on HBO Max turn out to be a smart one? Will the likes of Dune, The Many Saints of Newark, Matrix 4 and In the Heights enjoy the same success on HBO Max as they would have if relegated to movie theaters? We probably won't ever know, but one thing is for sure: our Christmas Day plans have never looked so exciting before.
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