In news that was pretty much inevitable, Disney has confirmed that much-anticipated 101 Dalmatians origins movie Cruella is sticking to its planned May 28th release date, but it will be dropping the same day on Disney Plus. Even though cinemas and studios are making new deals to start the healing process for the exhibition industry, the Mouse House has decided that their dual release strategy is still the safest way to go.
Deadline revealed the news this Tuesday, alongside the announcement that Black Widow has been pushed back to July 9th. Like Cruella, it will also drop the same day on Disney Plus and both titles will be released via the platform’s Premier Access label. The studio has previously pioneered this premium level of D+ with last year’s Mulan and this month’s Raya and the Last Dragon and in those cases, the additional cost to purchase the film was $29.99.
Disney had maintained in the past that they weren’t initiating a blanket dual release plan like Warner Bros. is with HBO Max and was approaching each movie on a case-by-case basis. Nevertheless, it’s clearly growing into an increasingly common practice for the studio and may well become the norm going forward. You can especially see why Cruella was chosen to get this treatment, given that Mulan – another live-action reimagining of a classic animated IP – performed well on streaming.
As the title suggests, the pic features Emma Stone as Estella De Vil, an ambitious fashion designer whose obsession with being the best – plus her liking for Dalmatian fur – may just prove to be her undoing. Emma Thompson, Mark Strong and Paul Walter Hauser co-star in the film, which is directed by I, Tonya‘s Craig Gillespie. Fans have loved what they’ve seen of it so far, especially Stone’s crazed performance, so hopefully it’ll go down well with audiences when it drops in both theaters and on Disney Plus on Friday, May 28th.