Wonder Woman 1984

Wonder Woman 1984 (stylized as WW84) is an upcoming American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Wonder Woman. It is the sequel to 2017's Wonder Woman and the ninth installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film is directed by Patty Jenkins from a script she wrote with Geoff Johns and David Callaham and a story by Johns and Jenkins. It will star Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman, alongside Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen in supporting roles. Set in 1984, during the Cold War, the film will follow Diana as she faces off against Maxwell Lord and Cheetah.

Discussion of a sequel began shortly after the release of the first film in June 2017 and the decision to proceed was confirmed the following month. Principal photography began on June 13, 2018, with filming taking place at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in England, as well as the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia in the United States, London and Duxford in England, Tenerife and Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands and Almería in Andalusia, Spain—and finished on December 22, 2018, after a six-month shoot. Additional filming took place in July 2019.

In the United States and Canada, Wonder Woman 1984 is scheduled to be released by Warner Bros. Pictures theatrically on December 25, 2020; it will also stream digitally on HBO Max for a month beginning on that same date. It will debut theatrically in international markets that do not have HBO Max on December 16, 2020.

Premise
In 1984, during the Cold War, Diana Prince comes into conflict with two formidable foes—media businessman Maxwell Lord and friend-turned-enemy Barbara Ann Minerva while reuniting with her love interest Steve Trevor.

Cast

 * Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman: An immortal demigoddess, Amazon princess and warrior. Diana is the daughter of Hippolyta, the Amazonian queen of Themyscira, and Zeus, the king of the Olympian Gods. Speaking to Total Film, Gadot spoke about the character's evolution from the first film, saying; "In the first movie, [Diana] really is a fish out of water, coming from Themyscira into man's world and learning about the complexities of human life, really. In Wonder Woman 1984, she's been around. She's wiser and she's more mature. She's guarded and lost all of her friends throughout the years. But she's still doing the right thing, yet she is different from when we last saw her". Gadot added; "In the first movie, we really explored the journey of the coming-of-age, of how Diana Prince became Wonder Woman, and owned her full strengths and powers".
 * Chris Pine as Steve Trevor: An American pilot and spy from World War I and the love interest of Diana, who had presumably died during the events of the first film.
 * Kristen Wiig as Barbara Ann Minerva / Cheetah: An archaeologist who befriends Diana before becoming imbued with a cheetah-theme appearance and abilities leading her into a conflict against Diana and teaming up with Lord. Wiig stated; "It really doesn't feel like a sequel in that... everything's different. The posters, the music, everything" before adding; "Obviously the posters are different! I meant, like the style! A lot of time, with the sequel, you want to show the connection to the first one". Gadot concurred, saying; "It's totally of its own... It's true. And I feel, in the first movie, a big thing that we played off was the naiveté of Diana".
 * Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord: A charismatic businessman and entrepreneur who is famous for TV infomercials. Director Patty Jenkins has stated Pascal's performance as Lord was inspired by Gordon Gekko from Oliver Stone's Wall Street and by Gene Hackman's portrayal of Lex Luthor in Richard Donner's 1978 Superman film, and denied that Donald Trump was the main influence for the portrayal, with Jenkins describing Lord as "a villain with potential to be dangerous & scary".
 * Robin Wright as Antiope: Hippolyta's deceased sister, general of the Amazon army and Diana's aunt.
 * Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta: The queen of Themyscira and Diana's mother.

Additionally, Natasha Rothwell, Ravi Patel, Gabriella Wilde, Kristoffer Polaha and Amr Waked have been cast in undisclosed roles.

Development
The director of the first film, Patty Jenkins, who initially signed for only one film, had expressed interest in returning to direct the sequel. In June 2017, during an interview with Variety, comic book writer Geoff Johns revealed that he and Jenkins had started writing the treatment for a Wonder Woman sequel and that he had a "cool idea for the second one". While speaking in a Q&A at a Women in Film screening of the film, Jenkins confirmed she would indeed direct the sequel. However, Jenkins later tweeted that "it wasn't a confirmation. Just talking about ideas and hopes."

On July 22, 2017, at San Diego Comic-Con, the studio officially announced a sequel would be produced, with Jenkins returning as director; its title was listed as Wonder Woman 2. In September 2017, it was officially confirmed that Jenkins would be directing the sequel. On September 13, 2017, it was reported that The Expendables writer David Callaham would join the film to co-write the script with Jenkins and Johns, who had already been working on it for several months.

On February 28, 2018, it was reported that the film would be shot with IMAX film cameras in select action sequences. By late May 2018, long-time DCEU producer Zack Snyder confirmed on social media platform Vero that he, along with his wife Deborah Snyder, would serve as producers on the Wonder Woman sequel. On June 13, 2018, the title of the film was announced to be Wonder Woman 1984. A source close to Jenkins described it as a stand-alone film "in the same way that Indiana Jones or [James] Bond films are, instead of one continuous story that requires many installments."

Pre-production
Pre-production officially began by early December 2017 in the United Kingdom. That same month, director Patty Jenkins stated that the film would be another great love story. In April 2018, the film was confirmed to be set in the 1980s. The next month, production designer Aline Bonetto (Amélie, Wonder Woman) was announced to be returning for the sequel, as well as Academy Award winner Lindy Hemming, also returning as costume designer.

Casting
In September 2017, Gal Gadot was confirmed to return as the title character. On February 28, 2018, it was reported that Kristen Wiig was in talks with the studio to play Cheetah, the main villain of the film, with director Patty Jenkins confirming her casting the next month. By March 28, Pedro Pascal, who played Ed Indelicato in the pilot of the canceled 2011 Wonder Woman television adaptation, was cast in an undisclosed key role, later revealed to be Maxwell Lord. On June 13, Jenkins confirmed the return of Chris Pine as Steve Trevor via Twitter. On July 24, 2018, Natasha Rothwell was announced to be cast in an undisclosed role. A few days later, on July 27, Ravi Patel and Gabriella Wilde also joined the film, with their roles being kept under wraps as well. By late August, Connie Nielsen and Robin Wright were confirmed to reprise their roles as Hippolyta and Antiope in a flashback sequence. In November 2018, Kristoffer Polaha revealed that he has a role in the film.

Filming
Principal photography began on June 13, 2018, under the working title Magic Hour. Filming took place at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in England, and at a number of locations around the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia in the United States, including the Landmark Mall in Alexandria, Virginia, and Georgetown during June and July 2018,  with scenes shot in Alexandria from June 18 through July 14. Filming occurred outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., during mid-June. Other filming locations around D.C. included the Penn Quarter neighborhood, McPherson Square, the DAR Constitution Hall near the White House, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Smithsonian), and the Lincoln Memorial. By mid-July, production in the United States was completed and moved to England. In August, filming on location took place in several places around London, including St. Andrew's Place, Regent's Park and the Royal College of Physicians. Between September and October 2018, production also took place at Almería, in Andalusia, southern Spain, as well as Fuerteventura and Tenerife in the Canary Islands. From September 5 to 11, filming occurred at the Alcazaba of Almería fortified complex and the Wall of Jayran in Almería. Production moved to Fuerteventura from September 13 through September 26, with the Corralejo Dunes National Park, Parque Holandés, El Jablito, La Oliva and the Jandía Natural Park as filming locations. Filming in Tenerife began during the last week of September, lasting two weeks at various different locations on the island.

Production went back to England in October, with shooting on location taking place at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Hyde Park and the Savoy Hotel in Central London, and Torrington Square, adjacent to Birkbeck, University of London. By mid-November 2018, Pedro Pascal finished filming his scenes. Principal photography finished on December 22, 2018, after a six-month shoot. Additional photography and reshoots began on July 28, 2019, in London at Warner Bros. Studios, and was completed the following month.

Post-production
Richard Pearson served as the editor for Wonder Woman 1984. John Moffatt (Harry Potter and Life) served as the overall visual effects supervisor for the film. Double Negative (DNEG), Framestore and Method Studios provided the visual effects for the film. Alexis Wajsbrot served as the visual effects supervisor for Framestore. In December 2019, Jenkins revealed work on the film was completed five months in advance of the original release date.

Music
In August 2018, Hans Zimmer was announced as the composer for Wonder Woman 1984, replacing Rupert Gregson-Williams who scored the first film. Zimmer previously scored Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the first and second films in the DC Extended Universe, and the latter which also featured Wonder Woman. As part of DC FanDome, Zimmer unveiled a track from the score, titled "Themyscira".

Release
Wonder Woman 1984 is scheduled to be theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States and Canada on December 25, 2020 in Dolby Cinema and IMAX while streaming on HBO Max the same day.

It was originally announced for release on December 13, 2019, before being moved up to November 1, 2019, then it was delayed to June 5, 2020. On March 24, 2020, with theatres closed for an uncertain period of time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was delayed to August 14, 2020, taking the release date of Malignant. In June 2020, a further delay saw the film's release pushed to October 2, 2020, before it was moved to the Christmas date.

Later, Variety reported the film would be keeping its Christmas release date in theaters, while the film would also premiere digitally on HBO Max in the United States the same day, with the film being available at no extra cost to subscribers, after debuting in most international theatrical markets that do not have HBO Max starting on December 16, including France, Greece, and the United Kingdom. Shortly after, Deadline also reported that in order to get exhibitors on board with the day-and-date HBO Max release, Warner Bros. agreed to take a lower cut of the rental revenue than it usually does with a tentpole release, as well as to pull the film from HBO Max after a month so that the second month of the film's run would be exclusive to theaters. In a follow-up article from Variety, Adam Aron, CEO of US theater chain AMC Theatres, supported the simultaneous release strategy, stating, "Given that atypical circumstances call for atypical economic relationships between studios and theaters, and atypical windows and releasing strategies, AMC is fully onboard for Warner Brothers' announcement."

Like its predecessor, Wonder Woman 1984 will not be shown in Lebanon due to Gadot's prior involvement with and support of the Israel Defence Forces.

Marketing
On June 22, 2018, it was reported that Gal Gadot would be attending the Warner Bros. DC presentation at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), and some footage from the film would be shown to promote it. Director Patty Jenkins and actors Gadot and Pine attended the Wonder Woman 1984 panel at SDCC on July 21, 2018, where a short clip of the film was shown. New footage was shown during CinemaCon 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada, with a first look at Kristen Wiig in the film. In June 2019, Warner Bros. screened an extended look to European exhibitors at CineEurope in Barcelona, Spain.

A teaser poster debuted on June 5, 2019, one year ahead of the film's then-scheduled release date. In October 2019, it was announced that the film's first trailer would debut during Comic Con Experience CCXP 2019 on December 8, with Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins attending the event in São Paulo, Brazil. By the end of the month, WarnerMedia Entertainment debuted new footage from the film during the HBO Max presentation to the press. The first trailer debuted on December 8 at the 2019 Comic Con Experience (CCXP), with the show being livestreamed on Twitter around the world in real time. Trailer music theme is Sebastian Böhm's instrumental remix of "Blue Monday" by New Order. The same day, character posters for Wonder Woman, Maxwell Lord, Barbara Ann Minerva and Steve Trevor were released. In August 2020, the film's second trailer was released during DC FanDome and was "re-released" in November 2020 once its simultaneous theatrical/streaming debut was confirmed.

Sequel
In January 2019, after principal photography on Wonder Woman 1984 was completed, director and co-writer Patty Jenkins announced that the plot for a third Wonder Woman film was mapped out. The filmmaker stated that the plot of the next installment would take place during the modern day. By December 2019, Jenkins expressed that the wait between the second and third films will be longer than the time it took to release the first sequel. During an interview with Total Film in April 2020, the director expressed that she had a story arc that would take in all four Wonder Woman films, including an Amazons movie, and then the main character's third movie. In late June 2020, speaking to Heroic Hollywood about the third film's status, Jenkins revealed that she had stopped working on the story which she had been developing six months prior so she could see how to absorb the result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic into the story.

Spin-off
In December 2019, director Patty Jenkins announced that a Wonder Woman spin-off film was in development, with the story focusing on the Amazons of Themyscira. Jenkins is attached as executive producer. By April 2020, Jenkins revealed that she will not direct the spin-off, though she will serve as producer.