With both its premiere access streaming strategy and the recognition that the drama movie will not return to normal any time soon, Disney simply announced that its films “Black Widow” and “Cruella” will be coming to Disney + at the same time released. That means Disney + subscribers will be able to pay an extra $29.99 for a live action remake of “Cruella” at home on May 26th or do the same for “Black Widow” on July 9th (no additional discounts for all Disney + subscribers after the movies Will be available without).
Disney first tested this strategy with the release of the latest live action ” Mulan”, followed by the animated “Raya and the Last Dragon” earlier this month. The studio has released other movies as if Pixar’s “Soul” directly on Disney + without additional movies and has said that it will be June 18 for Pixar’s “Luca”.
Other major Disney releases have been repeatedly pushed back – for example, “Black Widow” was supposed to be released on May 1 last year, and Marvel Studios chief Kevin Faye resisted sending it directly to Disney +. (It will be the first Marvel Studios to release since the start of the epidemic.
However, Disney executives can only be prepared to wait so long. In addition, since Marvel movies and new Disney + shows often intertwined, delaying a release requires simultaneously pushing several others back.
Movie theaters are reopening in big markets like Los Angeles and New York as vaccinations continue and numbers of Covid-9 cases drop from their peak – but power has dwindled, with box office numbers still far below pre-epidemic levels.
In the face of this uncertainty (as well as the general shift in streaming), other Hollywood studios have adopted different hybrid strategies for their 2021 theater slate. All Warner Bros. movies will release together on HBO Max this year, while Paramount will bring his films to Paramount + in significant fashion 30 to 45 days after the play’s release.
