Disney Reportedly Delaying 'Black Widow' & Possibly Moving 'Soul' To Streaming

It has been rumored for a while now, but a new Variety report seems to confirm it—Disney is about to delay the release of “Black Widow.” And with that move, movie theaters are probably going to be put in panic mode.

The report claims that Disney is likely going to delay “Black Widow,” but no new date is being revealed at this time. With “Wonder Woman 1984recently moving from October to Christmas Day, a week after “Dune,” and the new James Bond film, “No Time to Die” arriving on November 20, there aren’t too many dates left in 2020 for “Black Widow.” And judging by the last time they delayed the film, just shifting the entirety of the Marvel Studios line-up that is booked for the next two years, we could be looking at an announcement that the Scarlett Johansson solo film is moving to February and taking the spot currently occupied by “Eternals.” Of course, this is all speculation, at this point.

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The added wrinkle to the story that also confirms what the Disney CFO recently said is that the studio is also exploring the idea of shifting the Pixar film, “Soul,” from its theatrical release to Disney+. As mentioned, the studio executive recently said that she doesn’t believe families are willing to go back to movie theaters right now and family-friendly features can succeed on streaming. This is what drove the studio to shift “Mulan” from theaters to Disney+. And if the studio follows suit with “Soul,” it’s clear that the “Mulan” experiment is a success, at least in the eyes of Disney.

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So, why does this spell doom for theaters? Well, if/when “Black Widow” moves, that means there won’t be a major studio release between now and November 20, when “No Time to Die” hits theaters. That means the hopes of theaters attracting people to indoor locations hinges on the success of “Tenet” being able to continue to draw people to cinemas. And judging by the most recent box office tallies, it doesn’t seem as if “Tenet” is the massive draw that folks in the industry were hoping for.

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This begs the question—when will studios trust in theaters again? And when that date comes (whether it’s November 20 with “No Time to Die,” or god forbid, later), will it be too late for the big chains? We know that AMC is on life-support, with the executives openly discussing financial problems and a desire for studios to release films on time this fall. Clearly, the studios hold all the cards here and the cinema chains are at their mercy. Let’s hope, as film fans, this all works out, eventually, because these are indeed scary times for the theatrical experience and the future of film releases.