LOS ANGELES • The Warner Bros movie studio has postponed the debut of superhero sequel Wonder Woman 1984 until Christmas Day as many cinemas remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The film starring Gal Gadot had been scheduled for release in cinemas on Oct 2, but will now debut on Dec 25. It was the next big-budget Hollywood movie slated for theatres.

"Because I know how important it is to bring this movie to you on a big screen when all of us can share the experience together, I'm hopeful you won't mind waiting just a little bit longer," director Patty Jenkins said in a statement.

Movie studios have been shuffling their schedules for months as the industry tries to recover from the pandemic, which forced theatres around the world to shut their doors in March.

Cinemas have slowly reopened with capacity limits and moviegoing is rebounding in countries such as China, the world's second-largest film market.

But in the United States, theatres remain closed in major moviegoing hubs including Los Angeles and New York.

Warner Bros, owned by AT&T, tested the market with the release of director Christopher Nolan's thriller Tenet last month.

The time-bending science-fiction thriller, which cost more than US$200 million (S$273 million) to produce, crossed the US$200-million mark at the box offices globally, as it generated US$6.7 million in its second weekend of release.

Mulan, Walt Disney's live-action remake of the 1998 animated movie, pulled in US$23.2 million over the weekend at box offices in China, a slow start for the bigbudget epic about a Chinese folk hero in its most important theatrical market.

The next upcoming Hollywood blockbuster is Black Widow from Walt Disney's Marvel Studios. It is due to debut in theatres on Nov 6.

James Bond movie No Time To Die, from Comcast's Universal Pictures and MGM Studios, is scheduled for Nov 20.

REUTERS