Black Widow star David Harbour implies he would support the film releasing early on Disney+. The upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe installment is one of many Hollywood projects affected by the coronavirus outbreak, having been indefinitely postponed from its originally scheduled May 2020 release. Whereas some of the movies delayed due to the health crisis have secured new premiere dates (most recently Wonder Woman 1984 today), the Mouse House is taking their time and letting the situation play out before they make any decisions concerning any of their movies pushed back.
While the decision to delay Black Widow was understandable and inevitable (considering movie theaters around the world are currently closed), the development was still very disappointing for fans eager to finally see Natasha Romanoff headline her own movie after all these years. In the aftermath of the postponement, some viewers started campaigning for the movie to hit Disney+ early. There are many reasons why that can’t happen, but one of Black Widow’s stars wouldn’t be opposed to it.
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During an Instagram Live video posted on March 22, Harbour discussed his desire to watch the full movie (he hasn’t seen it yet) and said if it came to it, he wouldn’t mind checking it out on Disney+. Read his transcribed quote in the space below:
I’m very much looking forward to being in Black Widow if we ever are able to release that movie. I would love to be able to watch that movie too – y’know I have not seen that movie. I have seen some stuff in ADR and it looks really good. And also I was there when we were shooting it and I’m really excited about it. But I would like to see it myself. Hell, I would watch it on Disney+.
As great as it would be to watch the latest Marvel blockbuster from the comfort of one’s living room during quarantine, there’s no chance of Black Widow going straight to Disney+. Disney would needlessly cost themselves hundreds of millions of dollars in box office revenue, which they need in order to recoup Black Widow’s production budget. Whereas some of the movies delayed due to coronavirus have become streaming vehicles (like The Lovebirds), something like Black Widow doesn’t really fit that bill. This was one of Disney’s premier tentpoles of the year, and they’ll want to give it a proper theatrical release. The studio’s probably already taking a bit of a hit pulling Black Widow, so they’ll definitely want it to play on the big screen and gross as much as possible. Plus, NATO expects most of the postponed movies to still hit theaters, with franchise installments like Black Widow, F9, and more giving theater owners a much needed post-coronavirus boost.
The question then becomes when will Black Widow release in theaters. For now, that’s very much uncertain. Obviously, it depends on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic down the line and when it’s safe to open movie theaters again. There’s no telling when that will be because the situation remains fluid (and, as far as movies are concerned, they need things to have calmed down globally in order to maximize profits). Disney also has the unenviable task of figuring out the logistics of rescheduling a slate of high-profile films, trying to find slots where the movies are in position to succeed without undercutting anything else from the Mouse House’s expansive media empire. Black Widow will see the light of day eventually, but for now fans just need to be patient and keep waiting.
Source: David Harbour
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- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2021)Release date: May 07, 2021
- Spider-Man: Homecoming 3 (2021)Release date: Jul 16, 2021
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2021)Release date: Nov 05, 2021
- Black Panther 2 (2022)Release date: May 06, 2022
