The endless story linked to the release of the Disney films continues. The entertainment giant chose a hybrid release, in theaters and on Disney Plus at the same time through the VIP Access service, for Black Widows, unleashing the ire of Scarlett Johansson and her lawyers, only to change her mind for her next blockbuster, Shang-Chi and the legend of the Ten Rings.
Now comes the confirmation that the setting was chosen for the latter, the first action movie in the Marvel cinematic universe with an Asian protagonist, will be normal: from now to the end of 2021, all the main releases of the Mickey Mouse house and its subsidiaries, like 20th Century Studios, will hit theaters first.
This choice will involve, at least in the United States, six releases: Encanto, The Last Duel, Ron’s Gone Wrong, Eternals, West Side Story and The King’s Man, all films arriving within three months, pandemic permitting, between mid-October and the end.
In the case of Encanto, the exclusivity in the room will last 30 days, so as to arrive on Disney Plus on December 24th and try to take advantage of the holidays to reach the home audience as well. For the others, however, it will be necessary to wait at least 45 days before they are also made available on Disney+.
Like the entire cinema market, the effects of COVID-19 made themselves felt, impacting first on the possibility of releasing films to the cinema, and then on the possibility of being able to reach a sufficiently large audience. In a context where referrals are still on the agenda, Disney has partly taken advantage of the situation to push its digital platform, which has already reached almost 120 million subscribers.
In fact, the company can now decide, depending on the film and the context, whether to push more on the cinema, in search of more immediate receipts or aim to increase the subscriptions of its streaming service, working in perspective.
