Bob Chapek, Disney CEO, has denied rumors that Black Widow will debut directly on Disney + streaming. The next Marvel Studios movie is slated to hit theaters on May 7.
“We still intend to launch in theaters,” said the executive during a conference held last Thursday (11) on the company’s quarterly earnings.
On the other hand, Chapek has not clarified whether Black Widow will stick to the planned release date or suffer a further delay. In this case, the second option would prevent the box office from being harmed due to the covid-19 pandemic.
“We will be watching very carefully the reopening and the feeling of the consumer to return to the cinemas”, commented the executive when asked about the subject.
As Variety points out, Black Widow has an estimated budget of about $ 200 million. Therefore, it would be impossible for the studio to make a profit at a time when the audience is not yet going to the theaters.
Disney + launch strategy
During the pandemic, Disney launched some productions directly on Disney +. In 2020, Mulan’s live-action remake debuted on the platform with premium access, while the Soul animation was made available at no additional cost.
Both films were also released in cinemas in some countries and had an international collection of US $ 69 million and US $ 104 million, respectively. Values that were in the studio’s plans when they invested in this strategy.
At the recent conference, Disney said it will continue to experiment with this format until the showrooms recover. Thus, the next simultaneous release will be the animation Raya and the Last Dragon which opens on March 5.
“Some productions will be launched in theaters, others we will take to Disney + with premium access. And in some cases, we will make them available directly on the service. It is a question of flexibility ”, commented Chapek.
