Theaters around the world have been shuttered for close to five months now, with the majority of takings coming from limited runs of classic movies, drive-ins or the fantastic story of Unsubscribe, the short film that became the number one movie in America after creator Christian Nilsson took advantage of the chaos to rent an entire cinema and buy every ticket himself so that his Zoom-shot thriller could genuinely be called the #1 box office hit in the country.
The domino effect caused by the Coronavirus pandemic has reduced the 2020 release schedule to bare bones, and as the uncertainty continues, more and more movies are packing up and heading to 2021 instead. On the plus side, it means next year is looking to be the most stacked ever for fans, but the drawback will be a dearth of new content over the next few months.
Disney sent shockwaves through the industry yesterday when they officially announced that after months of delays and widespread speculation, Mulan would be releasing exclusively on Disney Plus for a one-off fee. While there had been rumors making the rounds for a while that it could happen, the idea of a $200 million blockbuster bypassing theaters entirely and heading straight to streaming still seemed unthinkable.
Almost as soon as the Mouse House dropped their Mulan bombshell though, Marvel Cinematic Universe fans went online in the hopes that Black Widow could end up getting a similar treatment, even though it isn’t scheduled to arrive until November, and you can check out some of the reactions below.
okay if Black Widow come to Disney+ i’ll definitely pay that 30 then buy idk about Mulan though ?
— StarDeezy. ? (@ladario23) August 4, 2020
If I have to pay that much for "Black Widow", well, I'll do it.
— Tom B (@AnistonAnarchis) August 4, 2020
Oh, I hope Black Widow comes out on Disney plus, they could’ve released it by now.
— RD Pom (@RyanPomin) August 4, 2020
Considering buying this only so that Disney ends up doing this with black widow https://t.co/ie6FfDIdFk
— Cade Madson (@cmadson23) August 4, 2020
Black widow deserves better than Disney+. But if that’s the only option, then take my money. pic.twitter.com/WqkNcaluZk
— Sandi (@neverfallapart) August 4, 2020
I’m torn if they use the same logic as Mulan to release Black Widow on Disney Plus I’d of course pay the money but be sad that Natasha finally gets her solo movie but it’s not on the big screen.
— Ken Gartin (@RedTheTrucker) August 4, 2020
I hope a failure here doesn’t make Disney scared of doing this in the future. I’m not paying $30 for Mulan but I’d absolutely drop $30 for Black Widow https://t.co/l0hBB2W2Qs
— Steve Rebeiro (@steverebeiro) August 4, 2020
There are 6 people in our household so paying $30 to watch Mulan is a bargain for us. Thanks Disney. Now do this for Black Widow.
— Damon V (@jerumparump) August 4, 2020
It’s time Marvel, do the right thing. Black Widow needs to debut on Disney+
— Elijah Stewart (@EJ_Stewart) August 4, 2020
Disney+ releasing Black Widow pic.twitter.com/breRNF7KEp
— Star (@ShiningStar_021) August 4, 2020
Fans are already in the midst of the longest gap between MCU movies in a decade, so you can understand why they’re starting to get impatient waiting for Black Widow. However, Disney will no doubt be viewing the Mulan situation as a one-off and with November still a long way away, the studio will be crossing their fingers that things are back to some kind of normal by then and Natasha Romanoff’s long-awaited solo movie gets released into theaters as always intended.
