Disney and Other Studios Release Schedules for Upcoming Movies in Theatres and on OTT Platforms

Disney has postponed and amended much of its slate, including several Marvel titles, numerous times amid the pandemic – Black Widow, Emma Stone’s Cruella, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Pixar’s Luca and several others.

Black Widow and Cruella will now premiere on Disney Plus and release in theaters at the same time. Cruella is scheduled for May 28, while Black Widow has been pushed back two months to July 9 instead of May 7. Both titles will be offered on Premier Access, which comes with a $30 rental fee. 

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings of Marvel which was previously set for early July was bumped back to Sept. 3. Unlike Black Widow and Cruella, it’s expected to have a traditional theatrical release.

Luca, Pixar’s upcoming animated coming-of-age adventure, on the other hand, will be launching exclusively on Disney Plus, at no extra cost, on June 18.

Numerous smaller titles, mostly those inherited from 20th Century, have been postponed, though solely for the big screen:

• Free Guy on August 13, 2021
• The King’s Man on December 22, 2021
• Deep Water on January 14, 2022
• Death on the Nile on February 11, 2022

Kareem Daniel, the chairman of Disney Media and Entertainment distribution, explained, “By leveraging a flexible distribution strategy in a dynamic marketplace that is beginning to recover from the global pandemic, we will continue to employ the best options to deliver The Walt Disney Company’s unparalleled storytelling to fans and families around the world.”  

With movie theatre in Los Angeles and New York City reopening recently, there has been a rising optimism among film exhibitors and some studio executives. However, the limited capacity (capped at 25% or or 100 people per auditorium in L.A. and 50 per auditorium in NYC), has restricted ticket sales proving to be almost impossible for big-budgeted movies (like Marvel films that cost over $200 million to produce) to profit in theaters alone. 

Disney had recently released an animated adventure movie for families, Raya and the Last Dragon, in theatres and on Disney Plus for a premium fee. The movie’s performance (making $23.4 million in the U.S. and $71 million globally) proved the gradual recovery of US’s movie market. However, movies with larger budgets like Black Widow or Shang-Chi would face financial losses with a similar result.

Starting next year, the Warner Bros. studio will keep its movies in theaters for 45 days ahead of putting them on home entertainment. Paramount too plans to keep its new releases on the big screen for 45 days before moving them to the newly relaunched Paramount Plus streaming service. Meanwhile, Universal has forged its own model that enables the studio to offer its films on premium video-on-demand platforms after 17 days in theaters. In return, theater chains are getting a cut of digital profits.

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