According to The Walt Disney Company’s CEO Bob Chapek, the House of Mouse will wait as long as possible before deciding whether or not to delay Black Widow‘s theatrical release… again.
“Well, as you know, flexibility is something that we’ve been working hard against and our situation and our conditions change,” Chapek told Bloomberg Markets and Finance. He went on to say Disney is “waiting to see exactly how guests respond, prospective theatergoers respond” to the recent re-opening of theaters in Los Angeles and New York before making a final decision about Black Widow. “We’ll make the call, essentially, probably at the last minute in terms of how these films come to market,” he added.
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Marvel Studios’ Black Widow was one of the many theatrical releases initially scheduled for 2020, only to be delayed by the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and subsequent closing of movie theaters worldwide. While numerous theaters have since reopened, they continue to operate at partial capacity to allow for social distancing. As a result, the global box office has been operating at historically-low levels over the past twelve months, prompting studios to either further delay their biggest tentpoles, release them directly to streaming, or premiere them theatrically and on a streaming platform simultaneously.
Although the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to lead to herd immunity in the general public by the second half of this year, that almost certainly won’t happen in time for Black Widow‘s currently-scheduled release at the beginning of May. For that reason, Chapek said Disney will watch “very carefully” before deciding whether to move the film again. Marvel Studios President and Marvel Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige has similarly expressed his hope Black Widow will stick to its current release date, but admitted it’s far from a certainty. He’s also continued to push for the movie to receive a theater-exclusive rollout, as opposed to a hybrid release like the one Disney gave Raya and the Last Dragon.
In Marvel Studios’ action-packed spy thriller Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow 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.
Black Widow stars Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, O-T Fagbenle as Mason and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff. Directed by Cate Shortland, the movie arrives in theaters May 7.
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