Wonder Woman File Photo: IC

Chinese netizens took to social media on Thursday to call on Warner Bros to bring DC superhero film Wonder Woman 1984 to the Chinese mainland, arguing that it would be a good business move as the film would surely make more in the mainland, where the COVID-19 pandemic remains under control, than in its home market. 

The call began after Warner Bros on Thursday announced that the film would premiere simultaneously in US theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service on December 25, Christmas Day. It will also debut in international markets on December 16, but it has yet to be confirmed if this includes the Chinese mainland, according to reports.

Chinese netizens quickly began calling for the movie to come to the mainland, with some netizens showing concern that piracy could hurt the movie's box office if it is released in the mainland after Christmas.   

"Wonder Woman 1984 was shot with IMAX cameras so will be a better experience in theaters. I hope that the Chinese mainland will be able to release it at the same time. After all, the current pandemic situation is much better than abroad," one netizen wrote on Sina Weibo.

"We Chinese fans are still willing to go to theaters instead of watching it online, and I hate being spoiled," another netizen commented. 

"If the sequel is as good as the first, it is possible to get a box office of about 200 million yuan ($30 million) in China, which might even surpass its home box office and become its largest overseas box office market," Shi Wenxue, a film critic based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the studio delayed the release date three times before finally choosing this unusual simultaneous release in both theaters and a streaming platform. 

Starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, the superhero movie will be available on HBO Max for a month in the US without any additional cost to subscribers.

The move gained the support of many Chinese netizens who compared it to Disney's decision to charge Disney+ subscribers in the US an additional $29.99 to watch Mulan during its initial release. 

According to Shi, HBO Max's decision makes sense as the streaming platform's ultimate goal might be to bring in new subscribers through the film. He pointed out that compared with Disney+ and Netflix, who have more than 70 million and 150 million global users respectively, HBO Max has only about 8.6 million subscribers. 

Another reason for the move is the far from ideal box office of Tenet, which was also produced by Warner Bros.

Warner Bros insisted on releasing Tenet while the pandemic was still surging across the world, leading to a disappointing box office that was not able to cover the $200 million production cost of the film. Taking this as a lesson, it is understandable that Wonder Woman 1984 will be released online as well, Shi explained.