Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins has no interest in directing a movie for Netflix. The director has a long, varied career, with her debut feature film Monster earning an Academy Award for star Charlize Theron. After years of working on television series like Arrested Development, Entourage, and The Killing, the director's second feature film was 2017's Wonder Woman which was a massive hit at the box office and earned rave reviews from critics and audiences alike.
The director then followed it up with the highly anticipated sequel Wonder Woman 1984, but the film was massively delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally slated for a summer 2020 release date, the film was eventually released in both theaters and HBO Max day and date on Christmas, which was the start of Warner Bros.'s controversial decision to release their 2021 slate on the streaming service the same day as theaters. Jenkins has spoken recently about how she sees the decision as detrimental to Wonder Woman 1984's success and that the move was "heartbreaking" for her.
Now, Jenkins, similar to filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve, is sticking by the importance of theatrical experiences to their movies. According to IndieWire, during CinemaCon, Jenkins said she will not make a movie for Netflix. However, she would collaborate with the streaming service on a television series. Jenkins said:
"I like working with Netflix for television, I wouldn’t make a movie there or any streaming service with those . It’s hard to market a movie when it has a limited run."
At the moment, it doesn't appear that Jenkins would even have time to consider directing a movie for Netflix. Her next film is Star Wars: Rogue Squadron which is set to open in theaters on December 22, 2023. She signed on to helm the third Wonder Woman film, which will release exclusively in theaters as part of Warner Bros.'s new 45-day theatrical window plan. She is also signed on to direct and produce a film based on Cleopatra, which will reunite her with Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot. All three projects are big spectacle-based films that tend to favor a big-screen presentation.
Netflix has become a massive conversation point in the last few years since it started producing original films. The company has the money to produce projects that filmmakers may have trouble getting financed at a traditional studio. After Paramount Pictures dropped out of producing The Irishman from Martin Scorsese, Netflix bought the rights and reportedly gave the film a budget somewhere up to over $200 million. However, the studios' strategy or releasing one new original film a week can be a case of quantity over quality a lot of the time, with some new films being quickly forgotten as viewers scroll by for what is next. Wonder Woman 1984 may not have been the hit its processor was to many, yet, Patty Jenkins has made a name for herself as a visionary filmmaker who should be allowed to strive for her films to be seen in theaters like many of her contemporaries.
Source: IndieWire
