At long last, Black Widow is now less than one week away from releasing. Given its numerous delays over the past year, Marvel fans had become increasingly desperate to see the movie and had been demanding it drop on Disney Plus and forego a theatrical run. As it happens, Disney elected to to release it in both cinemas and on streaming, with the Scarlett Johansson vehicle being available to watch online through D+’s Premier Access label next Friday.
Audiences hungry to watch the film from the comfort of their own homes are eager to stream it, then, but it sounds like Marvel Studios themselves are less than happy about this arrangement. According to tipster Daniel Richtman, Marvel president Kevin Feige is not at all pleased with Disney over their revised Black Widow release strategy. In fact, the scooper says Feige is “mad” with the studio for the simultaneous streaming roll-out.
The reason why is because Feige was apparently not told about it and wasn’t personally involved in the decision to put Black Widow out on Disney Plus. If this intel is accurate, it would be very surprising. Feige is one of Disney’s most lucrative partners and he’s brought them billions upon billions of dollars over the past decade. You’d have thought they’d have kept him in the loop with what they were going to do with one of his own productions.
However, this sort of snub is in keeping with the outrage we’ve heard from other filmmakers over their movies getting streaming releases. Pixar is believed to be furious with Disney for repeatedly sharing their efforts for free on Disney Plus. What’s more, multiple creatives – like Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve – have hit back against WarnerMedia’s move to share all of its 2021 films on HBO Max.
As studios adjust to the changing cinematic landscape, it definitely seems like they’re struggling to keep both moviemakers and moviegoers happy at the same time. Whether Feige’s pleased about it or not, Black Widow can be found in theaters and on Disney Plus, for a $29.99 additional charge, from next Friday, July 9th.
