Why Was Wonder Woman 1984 Was Delayed Until 2020?

Wonder Woman was a bit of a surprise hit when it was first released back in 2017 and it has quickly become considered one of, if not the best film in the DCEU, so it was no surprise when Warner Bros. Pictures revealed that a sequel was in the works, Wonder Woman 1984.

When they initially revealed that the movie was happening, they announced a November 2019 release date, which means we should have seen the film by now, but that hasn’t quite happened.

Wonder Woman 1984 was delayed until June 2020 which is a rather extensive delay, but why did Warner Bros. decide to delay the movie by so much.

Well, it turns out that Patty Jenkins’ follow-up to her 2017 superhero blockbuster hit was for all the right reasons.

Warner Bros. Pictures producer Charles Roven was on hand to explain why they opted to delay Wonder Woman 1984.

Wonder Woman 1984 was delayed, but for good reason

Wonder Woman 1984 was delayed to June 2020, but why? (Credit: Warner Bros.)

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Here’s what he had to say about the delay during an interview with Collider back in March:

We always wanted the date that we are on right now. The studio felt that until their slate for the year before came together – and they had an amazing end of 2018 –that they needed to have a big what I call aircraft carrier, a ‘tentpole’, in [2019].

We had a very rushed pre-production because Patty [Jenkins] also did the TNT show and we had a very rushed post-production schedule in order to make the date that we were on, which was November 1, 2019.

We were doing it because the studio said they really needed it, and then at a certain point they came to us and they said, ‘You know what, you guys are right. Let’s go back to the month that you guys released Wonder Woman in, and take the extra time’.

So, it turns out the whole reason they announced a November 1st, 2019 release date in the first place was because Warner Bros. Pictures had no ‘tentpole’ movie scheduled for 2019.

Little did they know that Joker was going to be such a huge success for them, but it is true that 2019 has been rather absent of any DCEU movies, and that’s because they wanted to ensure that Wonder Woman 1984 was as good as it possibly could be.

Wonder Woman 1984 will hopefully be big box office for Warner Bros. Pictures

Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman 1984 – Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

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That does seem fair enough and probably means we’ll get to see a better film because of it, which is good news indeed.

That said, we did get Shazam! in 2019 and turned out to be a tiny bit of a flop. The film made just over $364 million at the box office, which is nowhere near Wonder Woman’s takins of $821 million.

Shazam! was made for around $100 million, but given how well the likes of Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Joker have done at the box office, the film’s takings could be considered to be a disappointment for Warner Bros. Pictures.

However, according to some recent reports, Wonder Woman 1984’s test screenings haven’t been going down very well with audiences.

Cosmic Book News reported that the reactions to this Wonder Woman 1984 test screening were “mixed” and certain members of the audience said he movie was, “really goofy, really campy and simple, with others offering it’s too slow and plot-heavy”.

The test screening, which was held in October supposedly, didn’t go down all that well with members of the audience.

There were also some key plot details leaked from this screening, which sound really strange indeed, and by the way, there are potential SPOILERS coming up for Wonder Woman 1984.

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Chris Pine as Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman 1984 – Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

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According to Cosmic Book New’s plot summary, Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord is in possession of some sort of magic rock which gives him the ability to grant people’s wishes (yeah, sounds really odd already).

Yet, these wishes come with a price. So, this is how Wonder Woman ends up getting Steve Trevor back, as she accidentally wishes for him to come back from the dead, explaining how he’s alive in this movie.

Yet, Steve returns in the body of another man and only Diana can see him as he did in the previous movie (looking like Chris Pine).

However, in exchange for this wish, Wonder Woman loses most of her powers, which leaves her vulnerable to things like bullets, knives… basically all sharp and pointy weapons.

This is also how Kristen Wiig’s character, Barbara Minera, ends up with the powers of a cheetah. She wishes for them in order to fulfil her lifelong dream to become a hero like Wonder Woman.

However, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman discovers that Lord is using people’s wishes to increase his own abilities and powers, and she tries to bring him to justice.

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Wonder Woman 1984 will see Steve Trevor return – Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

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Yet, Cheetah then turns against her hero, because she doesn’t want to give up her new powers.

These reported plot leaks also went on to reveal that Diana and Steve steal a jet in the hunt for Pascal’s Lord and she manages to turn it invisible using her recently discovered new powers.

Everybody ends up in Washington D.C. where there’s a big showdown between Lord, Cheetah on one side, and Wonder Woman and Steve on the other.

Lord apparently then accidentally undoes all the wishes he had granted and everything goes back to the way it was before.

This means that Steve Trevor dies once again, and the person who’s body he was ‘possessing’ returns with no memories of what had just happened.

Yet, he apparently strikes up a conversation with Diana and asks her out on a date, which she apparently agrees to, and that’s the strangest part of all of this in my mind.

What do you make of these Wonder Woman 1984 plot details and are you glad that Warner Bros. Pictures delayed the movie’s release? Let us know in the comments below.

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