Black widow: Disney still has no plans to launch in streaming

Disney CEO Bob Chapek confirmed that Marvel’s black widow is still aiming for a theatrical release, rather than going straight to the broadcast. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Chapek confirmed in an investor call on Thursday that the next Marvel superhero movie starring Scar Johansson is still scheduled for a theatrical release instead of a Disney + debut, although he also expressed that the company will remain flexible with its theatrical release schedule and will re-evaluate launch strategies if and when necessary.

“We still intend it to be a theatrical release,” Chapek said during Disney’s quarterly earnings conference call this week, reaffirming the company’s commitment to launching Black Widow on the big screen before proceeding with the company’s surveillance of the situation, saying , “We will be watching very carefully to see if this strategy needs to be revised.”

Although Chapek reiterated the company’s intentions to release Black Widow in theaters, he has not confirmed whether the film will be released on May 7, 2021 as scheduled, or whether it will face another setback in the coming months. By THR, Chapek highlighted some of the factors the company will be monitoring, including the status of theater closings, as well as public demand for the theater experience.

For a while, speculation has escalated about whether Black Widow might debut on Disney +, with rumors accelerating shortly after Disney began to change course with a series of its other planned theatrical releases. Mulan debuted on Disney + in September at a premium price of $ 29.99, while Soul from Pixar missed theaters and went to streaming in December at no additional cost.

Disney continued to reevaluate its launch plans as we entered the new year, with the company announcing in January that Robert Zemeckis’s live-action Pinocchio remake had been changed to a Disney + release. The news came shortly after a report circulated suggesting that the company was meditating on Disney + premieres for some of its upcoming family support films.

Black Widow’s release date on May 7, 2021 is almost exactly a year after the original release date on May 1, 2020. The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) led Disney to push Black Widow to 6 November 2020, before deciding to change that date again. However, it was reported in March last year, through an unidentified Marvel insider, that “pushing the Black Widow does not affect anything on the MCU schedule”.

To learn more about the studio’s future list of projects and releases, read our review of the biggest and most notable developments at MCU, Disney + and Marvel comics this year.

Adele Ankers is a freelance entertainment journalist. You can reach it at Twitter.