This is, like, terra incognita territory, all right? “Wonder Woman 1984 opened to an estimated $16.7 million over Christmas weekend, the best three-day debut at the distressed domestic box office since the novel coronavirus began, according to Warner Bros.” Which gives you an idea of just how messed up the movie industry is, these days. How much would it have made in a normal year? Damned if I know: aside from everything else, it should have been out months ago.
And then there’s the HBO Max stuff: “Nearly half of the platform’s retail subscribers viewed the film on the day of its arrival, along with millions of wholesale subscribers who have access to HBO Max via cable, wireless, or other partner services (the streamer didn’t provide particulars in terms of the numbers). HBO Max also saw the total viewing hours on Friday more than triple in comparison to a typical day in the previous month, the company said Sunday.” Whatever the actual numbers were, they were enough for the studio to greenlight a third Wonder Woman movie, which at least suggests that it wasn’t a flop.
I’ll just end this in passing that if there are people you trust who are telling you that WW84 isn’t any good… yeah, that’s happening a lot. A lot of people are saying it’s great, a lot are saying it’s awful, and somebody’s hitting every point in between. I have rarely seen a movie that got this range of reaction; I liked it, but it feels like everybody who streamed it got a subtly different version of the film. Put another way: when it comes to figuring out whether to try this movie out…
It does seem to be a Rorschach test. I kind of wonder how the response would have been if we had not been enduring the PC onslaught for the past few years? I am not saying the response is wrong- people like or dislike what they like, however, the ground and minds of a lot of people are not a very fertile grounds for certain things.
As for me, I have decided within the past year that for the things I am looking forward to, I am not checking out reviews beforehand. Cyberpunk is case, point and match. I went in completely unspoiled and found one of the most enjoyable game experiences ever. Make up your own mind, what a concept.
I watched Dredd last night. Wonderful, if bloody, film.
For what it’s worth, Hollywood In Toto and Erick Erickson both hated it. HIT observed that the director apparently was inspired by Superman 3 and Superman 4– and not in a “must avoid being a total disaster like they were” way.