Much like the character themselves in the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” “Black Widow” is dropping surprisingly early. Marvel Studios’ latest feature film is launching on all major digital platforms come August 10 and then on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on September 14. While that may see seem disastrously early — the early release can’t help but feel like Disney simply throwing in the towel on “Black Widow’s” theatrical release, following major second and third-week drops after a pandemic record-setting opening weekend — to be fair, the timing of the quick home release does have precedent, however, with recent, would-be Disney blockbusters – with “Mulan” and “Raya And The Last Dragon” both hitting video-on-demand to own after just one month. Then Blu-ray and DVD after two months, and finally free on Disney+ after three. So essentially, while many fans or pundits may want to sound alarm bells at “Black Widows” poor box office, this is their Premiere Access release strategy.
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Having grossed $314 million after three weeks in theaters worldwide, while these may seem like a decent asterisk, pandemic numbers, it’s still pretty low for Marvel (for comparison, “F9” is at $621 million worldwide and obviously wasn’t hurt by day-and-date Premiere Access viewership). Its availability on Disney+ Premiere access is clearly taking away from its theatrical total and, and the worsening pandemic in certain parts of the U.S. surely doesn’t help either. Moreover, “Black Widow” isn’t out in China yet, and given the early digital release, it’s very possible it won’t receive a theatrical release in that country.
So it’s no wonder that a prequel about an already-dead character, one arguably made many years too late, hasn’t performed to the scale of Marvel Studios’ overwhelming cultural dominance (again, bearing in mind that it’s still a pandemic). As things stand, “Black Widow” currently has the second-lowest worldwide box office for Marvel after “The Incredible Hulk.”
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Still, no doubt plenty of Marvel Studios fans will be pleased by the wealth of deleted scenes featured in the home release – 9 in total. Even if Marvel released more PVOD numbers and tries to spin it all as a win, it’s inarguable that all eyes are on Marvel right now, given this is their first major stumble at the box office since they began. It’ll be interesting to see how this impacts the coming releases of “Eternals” and “Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings.” If you want to hear more about that very potential issue, you should listen to our recent podcast on the subject of “Black Widow,” its poor box office showing, how Disney+ could be unintentionally cannibalizing its viewership and the aforementioned Marvel titles coming this fall.