Covid-19 continues to be the one enemy Diana Prince can’t defeat.
The continuous delaying of movie release dates, from indie flicks to big-budget blockbusters, has been an ongoing theme for the better part of a year. The tale of Warner Bros.’ “Wonder Woman 1984” is no different. The film, directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot, has had no fewer than six release dates. Three of those delays are directly related to the pandemic.
Specifically, “Wonder Woman 1984” began with somewhat typical production delays that can happen with any tentpole film. Once situated, it was slated to be a summer blockbuster with a debut date of June 5. Then it got pushed to Aug. 14. Then pushed again to Oct. 2. And delayed again to Dec. 25, practically the only major theatrical release left in the calendar year.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and many other countries around the world appear to be in the initial stages of the dreaded “second wave” of the pandemic. When asked about the odds of “Wonder Woman 1984” actually hitting theaters come Christmas, Jenkins demurred.
“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.”
Jenkins added that she’s “very hopeful” the film can still open on Dec. 25. “It feels totally possible to me,” she said.
Yet it all just sounds like exactly that, hopeful–or perhaps wishful–thinking at this point.
For his part, co-star and villain of the “Wonder Woman” sequel Pedro Pascal remained philosophical about the uncertain fate of the most notable movie of his career so far.
“I don’t know,” Pascal said with a laugh. “That would that would be like assuming I know scientifically, economically, socially so many large things that are just way above my pay-grade. We have information, but still there’s so much more information to be had and sometimes the information feels like it changes so quickly. As maddening and as scary as that feels like to live with on a day-to-day basis, it does make sense, because this is new. Every time I’m like, ‘Well, why don’t we knoowwww?’ It’s like, because it’s a new virus. It just takes time to figure it out.”
