Wonder Woman 1984 might be the first of Warner Bros.' tentpoles to debut on HBO Max the same day it hits theaters, but it's not exactly a good test case for the straight-to-streaming model the studio is using for 2021. With years of hype and decades of fandom behind the massive project, viewership numbers are unlikely to reflect how any movie not starring a Themysciran princess might perform.
A truer test will come when Warner Bros shares its first capeless movie on the platform: police thriller The Little Things. WB just shared the first trailer for the star-packed slow burn and we can't see any reason why it wouldn't draw eyeballs to the studio's streaming platform.
The Little Things follows two lawmen, one a former LAPD officer who left the city behind to become a country sheriff (Denzel Washington), the other an LAPD sergeant tracking a serial murderer (Rami Malek). Malek brings in Washington to help on the case and the trailer hints that the investigation uncovers a bit more than bodies. Washington seemingly has something in his past, possibly during his time in Los Angeles, that he's trying to keep buried.
The investigation points them toward Jared Leto's latest stringy weirdo, a Charles Manson type minus the charisma, who taunts Washington's sheriff throughout the clip.
Whether audiences will connect with the murder mystery outside of a traditional theatrical run remains to be seen. The movie will debut in theaters on Jan. 29, but HBO Max subscribers will have the convenient option to watch it from their homes for 31 days. Give the trailer a watch up top.
