In response to the world health crisis and major movie theater chains closing locations across the country for an indefinite amount of time, Disney has decided to postpone the May 1 theatrical release of Marvel movie Black Widow to a future date, The Walt Disney Company said in a statement on Tuesday.
Delayed Disney Films Stacking Up
The live-action film starring Scarlett Johansson as one of the original Avengers characters was supposed to be a springboard for the fourth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (also known as MCU). It would be the next chapter in the franchise following Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Black Widow follows Mulan, New Mutants, Woman in the Window and Antlers, titles that Disney delayed last week.
Postponing ‘Black Widow’ release date could impact the MCU
“Moving Black Widow could have a “cascading effect” on the rest of the MCU releases,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice.com.
Part of the appeal of the MCU is that each title isn’t a standalone film. Black Widow – like other MCU titles – is part of a collection of character story arcs that intertwine with each other. Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: End Game were the culmination of a 22-film story.
Although Black Window takes place prior to the events in Avengers: End Game, it could relate to the other Marvel films that take place afterwards. Each film contains material that connects to other MCU projects. Sometimes, they include Easter eggs and post-credits scenes that allude to future films, which makes the planned order of the movies important.
Current release schedule of Marvel films and TV shows:
- Black Widow — (postponed)
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier — August 2020 on Disney+
- The Eternals — Nov. 6, 2020
- WandaVision — December 2020 on Disney+
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings — Feb. 12, 2021
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — May 7, 2021
- Thor: Love and Thunder — Nov. 5, 2021
- Loki — 2021 on Disney+
Other Marvel properties that haven’t been placed on the schedule yet include Black Panther 2, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Captain Marvel 2, Fantastic 4, Blade, Spider-Man 3, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye.
New strategies from other studios include delays and streaming
Blockbuster movies from other studios have also faced delays. The upcoming James Bond entry, No Time To Die, was the first tentpole film to move its premiere date and is currently scheduled for a November 25 release. F9 (alternatively known as Fast & Furious 9) had a release date of May 22, but Universal set the date back a full year.
Universal will experiment with same-day Video On Demand (VOD) and theatrical releases, as Trolls World Tour will be released simultaneously in theaters and digital renting platforms like iTunes and Amazon. Disney has not committed to releasing their delayed titles in the same way. They released Frozen 2 on Disney+ three months earlier than intended, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was made available for purchase ahead of schedule. However, those titles had their theatrical run and brought in well over $1 billion each.
Disney delaying the release of Black Widow and other films could be a wise strategic move for them. Some titles have the potential to do $1 billion globally which makes their theatrical release dates very important to the studio.
Black Widow stars Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow alongside Florence Pugh, David Harbour, O-T Fagbenle, William Hurt, Ray Winstone, and Rachel Weisz. Set after Captain America: Civil War (2016), Romanoff confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.
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With so many theaters closed, there would be little point in studios releasing films into cineplexes at the moment. What are your thoughts on the movies stacking up in the vault? Would you rather that studios hold on to their films until theaters reopen, or would you like to see them available for streaming now, or perhaps in conjunction with streaming at a later date? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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