‘Black Widow’: Marvel’s Long-Awaited Film Release Is A Triumphant Moment For The Industry

[ad_1]

Millions of Marvel fans are set to return to theaters for the first time since “social distancing” began.

The occasion is Marvel’s â€œBlack Widow,â€ the most anticipated film of the summer. He’s making his world debut right now, “and the industry’s global expectations for the weekend reach $ 140 million,” Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro and Nancy Tartaglionereported Wednesday.

fandango said Advance ticket sales set a record high in 2021, meaning â€œBlack Widowâ€ topped â€œF9,â€ which was June’s big milestone for the film industry. On Fandango, the movie â€œalso beats pre-pandemic Marvel titles Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Doctor Strange (2016),â€ THR’s Pamela McClintock wrote. Of course, there is a ton of pent-up demand. â€œIt’s been more than two years since a photo of Marvel / Disney superheroes (Avengers: Endgame) graced the big screen,â€ noted McClintock. â€œEndgame, which was released in late April 2019, was followed in July of that year by Sony / Marvel’s Spider-Man: Far From Home.â€ No matter what measure you measure, it’s been a long time, so this launch is a moment of cinematic magic …

In the US, â€œBlack Widowâ€ premieres Thursday at 5 p.m. ET. It will become available to stream, at a price of $ 30, via Premier Disney + Access Friday. The streaming option makes forecasting and box office projections a bit more complicated than usual. But the Deadline team said “Black Widow” “could weave between $ 80 million and $ 90 million in 4,100 theaters” while “Disney is cautiously considering $ 75 million over 3 days in the United States.” Either way, that would be a pandemic era record, as “F9” grossed $ 70 million nationally in its first weekend.

So, by Saturday, Disney CEO Bob Chapek will likely receive a slap on the back from his media mogul brethren in Sun Valley …

Lowry’s Take

Brian Lowry writes: â€œMy full review will air Thursday on CNN Entertainment, but it should be noted that ‘Black Widow’ positions itself as a stand-alone entity, featuring the main character revisiting his former life between the events of ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and ‘Avengers: Infinity War.’ Of course, Marvel being Marvel, the film still contains seeds that could be harvested elsewhere in its larger cinematic universe … “

>> Lowry adds, “Also, whatever the box office tally, it would be extremely helpful to have an idea of â€‹â€‹what the Disney + buy rate looks like – from data that releases to date. du jour don’t share. Without it, there’s no way of really knowing how profitable (or not) the movie might be as well as how much of the streaming option might cannibalize cinema revenue, as opposed to just add income from people who would not be inclined to rush and see anyway … “

Big box office image

As the pandemic recedes in the United States, box office returns have been fragile. There were some small group hits, namely “F9” and “A Quiet Place Part II”, but also big hiccups, like “In the Heights”.

People are going back to the movies, “but they are doing it selectively,” WaPo’s Steven Zeitchik written last week. “And those who work in Hollywood are trying to figure out why.” Here are some of the theories. I hope Universal Distribution President Jim Orr is right: “There is a lot of reason to be optimistic – the light at the end of the tunnel is brightening every week …”