The full-length trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 is out. And, as all the filming that took place in the area suggested, the D.C. region is on full display.
For the uninitiated, Wonder Woman is Diana, the princess of the Amazons, played by Gal Gadot. She often saves the world from whatever terrible plan a big bad is hatching, sometimes with the help of other D.C. Comics super heroes like Batman, Superman, and Aquaman, as well as ample CGI. In her first solo film, she smashed several box office records in her quest to destroy the God of War and end World War I. (Spoiler: She did, though a fat lot of good that did to end world wars… I digress.)
In her second solo outing, Diana is braving the D.C. region in 1984. The Washington Business Journal reported last summer that both D.C. and Virginia were expected to give the production companies behind the film some incentives to shoot here.
The first shot of the trailer seems to show her living at The Watergate Complex. During the Reagan administration, the Watergate had turned from a place emblematic of presidential scandal into the “unofficial headquarters for Republican partying,” according to a Washington Post story from 1981.
A slew of shots from the trailer show the now-defunct Landmark Mall in happier, decidedly more Technicolor times. The movie filmed at the Alexandria location last summer, and called for area extras, including goths, punks, bodybuilders, and “fit ladies.” Wonder Woman is shown slinging her Lasso of Truth and otherwise kicking ass in the food court.
Like most films that take place in D.C., there are the requisite images of the U.S. Capitol as seen from Freedom Plaza. Around 1 minute and 14 seconds in, there’s some chaos on Pennsylvania Avenue NW. And, in this version of 1984 D.C., Pennsylvania Avenue has protected bike lanes! (While the sharrows seem to have been taken out in post-production, the lanes themselves are still there.)
The trailer ends with Wonder Woman and her long-lost love, Steve Trevor, played by Chris Pine, standing outside the Hirshhorn Museum. “It’s all art,” she tells him as the camera pans to the sculptures outside D.C.’s iconic Brutalist doughnut. Then, he begins to deeply consider a trash can out front. (Fun fact: My mom ran into Chris Pine at The Line hotel last summer, presumably while he was filming this movie, and called him “Chris Pines.”)
Actress Kristin Wiig, playing one of this film’s villains, is also seen at the Natural History Museum in one of the images released by the studio. Perhaps to help inspire the character for her transformation into Cheetah?
We know that filming also took place at Farragut Square (including putting up phone booths) and Georgetown (where punk store Commander Salamander made a fleeting return), but those scenes don’t seem to have made it into the trailer.
Will Wonder Woman have a better sense of direction in D.C. than nonsensical commuter Jack Ryan? Only time will tell! (But I’m not betting on it.) The film is slated for release on June 5, 2020.
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Rachel Kurzius