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Wonder Women 1984: Will the Online Release of the Movie Help HBO Max?

Wonder Woman 1984 is an action-adventure film that is all set to release on December 25th, 2020. According to some estimates, the movie would gross over $1 billion at the global box office in revenue. The 2017 Wonder Woman film grossed $821 million, so the $1 billion estimates are in no way exaggerated but are instead a quite reasonable guess. The movie would have been a huge hit, but 2020 is not like every other year. Everyone is well aware of the impact of the global health crisis on the film industry. Warner Bros. Recently came out with a statement that they have decided to release the much-anticipated film on HBO Max.

The announcement tried to paint the companies' decision as one of benevolence towards the fans. Jason Kilar, WarnerMedia CEO, stated that they want to give the viewers a choice from day one, which they might not have had otherwise. Wonder Woman (2017) attracted over 4 million fans on its opening day in the U.S, but with the present-day pandemic, the numbers are likely to go down. The company has claimed that they will be worried if the fans don't have the same option this year. So, WarnerMedia, by releasing the film on HBO Max wants to claim that it is being done to give the power of choice to fans who might want to stay safe and watch the movie on its opening day.

Although the statement by WarnerMedia does sound quite compassionate, and there is no doubt that Klar should be commended for his kindness. Still, it would be naïve to believe that the company will release the movie online just to give the fans the power to choose. Suppose the revenue estimates are to be believed, then WarnerMedia is sacrificing $1 billion, and no company would do it just to appease a film's fanbase. Put in a spot by the current global health crisis, they took the lesser of two evils and decided to go for the long-term growth of HBO Max by sacrificing short-term payday.

Most people today know that streaming is the future. Box office numbers have also declined every year. Moreover, people have also flocked to Netflix, as the Broadcast TV rating has fallen. So, HBO Max must be under immense pressure as a steady source of income, which must have been intensified by the global healthcare crisis, which is responsible for closing theaters worldwide.

Ever since its launch on May 27th, 2020, HBO Max has gotten mixed reactions. With 38 million subscribers, the company surpassed its Q3 subscriber prediction, but it is not an accurate metric of its success. Thirty-eight million includes the people who have the option to upgrade to HBO Max but are yet to do it. HBO Max has 8.6 million subscribers as of now, which means over 28 million subscribers are yet to activate their HBO Max upgrade.

The biggest problem with people not upgrading to HBO Max is not financial since the upgrade is free-of-cost. The lack of upgrade hurts the HBO Max originals content that doesn't get the audience that they might deserve. If more people upgrade to HBO Max, there is a much greater audience for The Originals. But unfortunately, that is not happening, which is slowing down the companies' efforts to secure new customers.

Releasing Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max is an excellent move by WarnerMedia if it succeeds in spurring a flood of subscribers and activations. The huge fan following of the cast will likely make it easy for the streaming service to attract new customers. The first film's success has increased excitement for the sequel, which WarnerMedia will hope to capitalize on. It will require much less marketing effort to sell and attract media attention before the movie's release.

Wonder Woman will increase the downloads of the HBO Max app, even though it does not lead to a significant spike in activations and subscribers. Mulan's release pushed the Disney+ app download by 70 percent. But it is still strange that Warner Bros. is so stubborn about the release of the movie in December when it has the option to delay it to summer 2021. Marvel delayed Black Widow, and Warner Bros. can do the same with Wonder Woman. Even if they are looking to push the activations and subscription of HBO Max, it is still unclear why they won't release Tom & Jerry, Space Jam: A New Legacy, and Godzilla vs. Kong, which are not as big as Wonder Woman.

The global box office revenues have declined, but with the end of the healthcare crisis fast-approaching, people would love to watch a movie like Wonder Woman. Therefore, releasing Wonder Woman in the summer of 2021 seems like a more logical decision instead of going for the online release on HBO Max to push activations and subscriptions. Even if a spike in subscription and activation is a target, there is no guarantee that the release of Wonder Women on HBO Max will help achieve it.

Source:- https://audit.askmesafe.com/blog/wonder-women-1984-will-the-online-release-of-the-movie-help-hbo-max