As of now, Disney is set to release “Black Widow” in about a month and a half. Normally, that would mean the marketing machine would be in full swing, with clips, trailers, TV spots, billboards, and all that stuff. However, there isn’t much “Black Widow” promotion out there. That’s because, even now, no one knows if the film will hit theaters in May or be pushed to another date later in the year. And though he seems to be the man who would know these sorts of things, not even Disney CEO Bob Chapek has a good answer for what might happen.
Speaking on Bloomberg TV (interview below), Bob Chapek was asked about the release date situation involving “Black Widow” and future Disney features. You would imagine the CEO would have a pretty solid answer about whether or not the newest Marvel Studios feature would hit theaters in May exclusively, perhaps get a hybrid streaming/theatrical release, or maybe just get delayed yet again, right? Well, he’s not so sure what’s going to happen, as the US theaters still recover from COVID-19 closures.
“Our situation and our conditions change,” Chapek said. “Just a few weeks ago, theaters in New York and Los Angeles weren’t even open. Now, all of a sudden they’re open, so we’re waiting to see how prospective theatergoers respond to these reopenings. We’re going to remain flexible. We’ll make the call probably at the last minute in terms of how these films come to market, whether it’s ‘Black Widow’ or any other title.”
He added, “We love the theatrical window. We think it’s important for building our franchises. At the same time, we don’t think it’s the only way to do it. … We’ll see what happens over the next couple of months. So much is changing, it’s such a dynamic environment. It’s really hard to predict what’s going to happen with consumer behavior in the next month as it comes to re-emergence back into the world of normal. We’ll be watching the call carefully and make the call when we have to.”
It’s clear that international cinemas, particularly those in China, have been fully rebounding and doing great business. But considering these Marvel films, and Disney features, in general, rely on the entire world operating to the best of its ability (a billion dollars is the goal, obviously), it’s still unclear what’s going to happen. The other factor that has to be considered when it comes to “Black Widow,” in particular, is that it has been almost two years since a Marvel Studios film has arrived in theaters. Fans are anxious. And investors are probably wondering when those cash cows will return to making buckets of money. And unfortunately, if you keep delaying “Black Widow,” the entire MCU gets pushed.
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Needless to say, this is a huge decision. And it’s definitely a bit startling to know that Disney is content with waiting until the “last minute” to make it. As of now, “Black Widow” is expected to arrive in theaters on May 7.
