At the US box office, Wonder Woman surprised 1984

(ANSA) - NEW YORK, DEC 28 - "Wonder Woman 1984" surprises at the American box office despite its simultaneous debut on Hbo.

   Over $ 16.7 million at the US box office and $ 85 million worldwide represent a record for the year of the pandemic: much better than the 9.3 million collected by Christopher Nolan's "Tenet", released in September when 70 percent of theaters in the Usa had reopened to the public.

    The unexpected success at the box office prompted Warner to put on a fast track the last film of the trilogy in which Gal Gadot plays the role of super-heroine Diana Prince.

Director Patty Jenkins, who wrote and directed the first two, told The New York Times last week that she would not be back on board without assurance that the third film would be released in theaters.

In recent days, unleashing the wrath of the big names in Hollywood, Warner Media had announced that all its films of 2021 will be released simultaneously in theaters and in streaming.

    "1984" debuted for Christmas in about 2100 American cinemas (35% of the total) with limited audience capacity to comply with the anti-Covid rules on social distancing.

    Meanwhile, AT&T revealed that half of the subscribers to its Hbo Max streaming service watched the film on Christmas day in the comfort of their living room.

    Before the Christmas debut, analysts had strong doubts that the new "Wonder Woman" would outperform previous box office records for 2020: the main concern was that parallel distribution on HBO would cannibalize the performance at the box office.

(HANDLE).