Disney shifts ‘Black Widow’ and doubles down on streaming

NEW YORK >> The Walt Disney Co. overhauled its upcoming film release plans, postponing some of its biggest films and shifting Marvel’s “Black Widow,” among other titles, to Disney+ the same time they arrive in theaters.

“Black Widow,” once planned to debut in May 2020, had been set to kickoff the summer movie season on May 7. It will instead premiere July 9. And it will do so simultaneously on the company’s streaming platform for a $30 early-access fee.

For theaters, which are beginning to reopen after punishing months of closure due to the pandemic, the announcement was a blow to hopes of an imminent recovery. While bigger and bigger films have turned to streaming and premiumon-demand in recent months, Marvel movies are Hollywood’s most bankable box-office behemoths.

Disney will instead launch its summer with “Cruella” on its previously scheduled date, May 28. The “101 Dalmatians” spinoff with Emma Stone will also premiere in both theaters and on Disney+ for $30 — the same hybrid approach the studio took with the recent release of “Raya and the Last Dragon.”

The Pixar film “Luca” will bypass theaters entirely. On June 18, it will debut exclusively on Disney+. In December when announcing an ambitious array of streaming programming, the company suggested that Disney+ would regularly be home to Pixar, among other brands.

Over the next few years, Disney is planning to premiere directly on Disney+ not just an armada of “Star Wars” and Marvel series but 15 live-action, Pixar and animated series, and 15 live-action, Pixar and animated movies.

COURTESY OF DISNEY/MARVEL STUDIOS Scarlett Johansson in a scene from “Black Widow.”