“Wonder Woman 1984” is making all kinds of moves! Thanks to the 2020 American superhero film, HBO Max activations doubled, giving the streaming service earnings of up to 17.2 million. During a phone meeting, AT&T said that HBO Max and HBO subscribers reached 41 million in the United States, and globally almost 61 million. As per CEO John Stankey, the company acquired the goal earlier than expected.
Although the company had fewer subscribers than Netflix and Disney Plus when they announced “Wonder Woman 1984” would be streamed on the platform, HBO revenue increased to $1.9 billion. “We’ve been working through pandemic-related production issues,” Stankey said. “And ramping that back up has been a pretty significant task, and the teams have done a remarkable job getting ourselves back into that business.” According to Stankey, all the hopes are into HBO Max, which he said is the company’s “biggest bet.”
“One, I’d point out, from my perspective, 7 million net adds is pretty stout, and the strategy is working,” the AT&T executive said. “And secondly, we’re 31 days out from ‘Wonder Woman’s’ release, so we’ll continue to follow it.”
The Wonder Woman sequel, starred by Gal Gadot , “Wonder Woman 1984,” was released on Christmas Day of 2020, giving fans of the film one of the year’s best gifts. “This is an amazing film that really comes to life on the big screen, and, working with our partners in the exhibition community, we will provide that option to consumers in the U.S. where theaters are open,” said Ann Sarnoff, chair and CEO of WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures, ahead of the release. “We realize that a lot of consumers can’t go back to the movies due to the pandemic, so we also want to give them the option to see Wonder Woman 1984 via our HBO Max platform.”
Although the film received mixed critics, it grossed $148 million worldwide, becoming the most-watched straight-to-streaming movie of 2020. “I never really realized what an impact she had on people across the board, all around the world,” Gadot said to Deadline. “This is the biggest movie and the most ambitious movie I’ve ever got to work on. And once we had the script and the vision, we just made sure that everyone gave a thousand percent for eight months to make sure that we could give the best movie we can to these amazing, amazing fans.”