The film industry’s definitely feeling the effects of the Coronavirus outbreak. Bond movie No Time To Die was the first major release to be delayed due to the pandemic sweeping the globe, with many others soon following it. In fact, just today, Universal announced that F9 will be pushed back nearly a whole year. That was supposed to arrive in May. Just like Marvel’s first release of the year, Black Widow. And, as you’d expect, there are now rumblings that it could be faced with a similar delay.
Fansite Black Widow Brasil spoke with Scarlett Johansson’s manager over Instagram, who revealed that Marvel isn’t entirely sure whether the May 1st release date will hold right now, but they hope to have more concrete information shortly. MCU Cosmic‘s Jeremy Conrad has verified that this conversation is legitimate, so it’s a fact that the studio is currently discussing what the best thing to do with the first entry in the MCU’s Phase 4 is.
Conrad raises the good point that Marvel/Disney is probably waiting to see how Mulan does when it drops next weekend. If the Liu Yifei-fronted remake faces an opening much lower than predictions stated, much as Pixar’s Onward has, then they could decide to cut their losses and postpone Black Widow until a later date. Of course, there’s also the small chance that Mulan itself could be held back, so everything really is up in the air right now.
Let’s say that BW was pulled, though. When exactly would the best time be to drop it after May? Well, with The Eternals arriving in November, it has to be before then, otherwise the whole series of MCU movies coming out over the next few years would start to fall like dominoes. MCU Cosmic suggests August could be a solid choice, giving the movie a late summer release and creating something of a Marvel event month as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also premieres then.
But this is all far from confirmed right now. Still, if Marvel is going to move Black Widow from its intended release date, we’ll most likely find out over the next couple of weeks.
