The highly anticipated sequel, Wonder Woman 1984 (WW84) will be streamed on HBO Max. However, due to technological barriers, you won’t be able to watch it in 4K but only in HD. Read on.

WW84: HBO Max + theaters screening

As you all may already know, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that the highly anticipated superhero film WONDER WOMAN 1984 will be released simultaneously in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming platform in the U.S. on December 25, while debuting theatrically in international markets a week earlier starting on December 16. The film will be available for a month on HBO Max in the U.S. included at no additional cost to subscribers (Read our article regarding the announcement: WONDER WOMAN 1984 Will be Released Simultaneously in Theaters and on HBO Max). However, this might be a bit of a (big) problem, since HBO Max viewing is limited outside the U.S and requires the use of a VPN. Nevertheless, we’ll get to that later.

Viewing WW84 in theaters

This is “Wonder Woman 1984’s” worldwide release plan according to Variety :

• December 16 — Belgium, Bulgaria. Egypt, Estonia, France, Greece, Holland, Iceland, Indonesia, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom
• December 17 — Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, Middle East – Other, Nicaragua, Panama, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates
• December 18 — China, East Africa, Japan, Nigeria, Spain, Vietnam
• December 23 — Austria, Germany, Korea
• December 24 — Hungary, Slovenia
• December 25 — Canada, Colombia, Finland, India, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Venezuela, United States
• December 26 — Australia, New Zealand
• December 31 — Argentina
• January 7 — Ukraine, Uruguay
• January 8 — Philippines
• January 14 — Azerbaijan, CIS Others, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Russia
• January 15 — Romania, Turkey
• January 21 — Chile, Peru
• January 22 — Poland
• January 28 — Italy
• TBD — Bahrain, Ghana, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Asia – Other, LatAm – Other, Islands – Other

We have plans to hold it in theaters for quite a long time, and hopefully long enough that it will still be there when theaters all over the world ARE open.

Woner Woman 1984 director, Patty Jenkins

There’s no doubt that this film deserves a theatrical release. It was planned and made for the big canvas, including IMAX theaters (Read: Wonder Woman 1984 Was Shot Entirely on Film: Another Proof that Film is Alive and Kicking!). Unfortunately, I can confirm that in my country (Israel) there not even a tiny plan on the horizon releasing it in theaters. Moreover, there is no defined time frame regarding screening Wonder Woman 1984 in the theaters. According to the film director, Patty Jenkins, the film should be watched on the big screen because it was made for it. As stated by Jenkins: “We have plans to hold it in theaters for quite a long time, and hopefully long enough that it will still be there when theaters all over the world ARE open”. Explore her tweet below:

The other (HBO Max) alternative is HD

One major area in which HBO Max lags behind competitors like Netflix and Disney+ is its lack of 4K HDR streaming, with content so far only available in 1080p SDR. In June 2020, HBO Max product senior manager Andy Forssel told that 4K HDR is a “super-high priority” and part of the “roadmap” for HBO Max, however, there have been no updates nor progress since then. At this time, HBO Max does not offer any titles in 4K on the streaming platform. Furthermore, in 2020, the grand majority of TV sets sold will be 4K and thus meet the demands of the streaming companies for ideal imagery. Moreover, another area where HBO Max lags behind competitors like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ is its sound quality. The streaming service offers Dolby 5.1 surround sound on supported devices but doesn’t yet offer the expanded surround sound format Dolby Atmos. That means, you will watch (in case you have access to HBO Max), WW84 in Full HD SDR, which is not the viewing experience that the makers of WW84 were intended for.

Final thoughts

By drawing conclusions from ‘Tenet’ screening which has failed to gain traction, this solution which combines screening in theaters and streaming makes a lot of sense. However, the HBO Max viewing experience will be impaired. It is time for HBO Max to accelerate and execute its roadmap to 4K HDR and thus to allow audiences to view WW84 with all its glory.