Black Widow is still slated for theatrical release, Disney CEO Bob Chapek says. Marvel Studios was supposed to kick off Phase 4 on the big screen with the Scarlett Johansson-led movie which gives Natasha Romanoff her long-delayed solo film. But due to the coronavirus pandemic, the MCU's schedule was moved around quite a bit in the last year, with the project pushed back a few times until it landed on a May 2021 release date.
On the heels of her controversial death in Avengers: Endgame, Marvel Studios is hoping to properly close Nat's arc via the Cate Shortland-directed movie. To work around her demise, the film is taking a period approach set in the two years between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Given this, other key players in the hero's life are about to be introduced into the MCU, specifically, her found family in Russia which includes David Harbour's Alexei Shoskatov/Red Guardian, Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, and Rachel Weisz's Melina. Meanwhile, the mysterious Taskmaster is set to be its primary villain.
Already delayed a full year, Disney has no plans on dropping Black Widow on Disney+, at least not just yet. During Disney's Investor's Call, CEO Bob Chapek maintained that the Marvel Studios project is intended for a theatrical release. That said, they're not ruling out anything just yet considering how volatile the situation is. "I'm going to go back to the word flexibility... We are still intending it to be a theatrical release," he said.
There are two clear options here for Disney if Black Widow doesn't make its May release date yet again. They can turn to Disney+ and roll it out there for an additional price as they do with their other big movies that were dropped on the streaming service, or they can push it back again if they're really keen on a theatrical run. The problem with the latter option is that the rest of 2021 is already stacked with movies that were delayed from last year. Marvel itself has Shang-Chi and the Legend of Two Rings, Eternals, and Spider-Man 3 slated for the latter half of the year. Finding a spot that's less crowded will be a difficult task. If all else fails, perhaps they can try Warner Bros.' approach with Wonder Woman 1984 and do a simultaneous release.
Understandably, some will be uncomfortable with the thought of returning to jam-packed theaters for a while, despite the ongoing rollout of vaccines for coronavirus. In reality, everything is hinged upon how swiftly people are vaccinated. It's difficult to predict how things will pan out moving forward with regard to people's theater-going practices, especially with the rise of various streaming services. But, if there's any movie that has a good shot of convincing people to come out, it's something from an established brand like the MCU with Black Widow.
Source: Disney
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