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Source: Box Office Mojo
To say that “Black Widow” would do well at the box office would come as a shock to anybody at least somewhat familiar with the current cinematic landscape. The most recent installment of the insanely lucrative Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Black Widow” was all but guaranteed to be yet another home run for a franchise that has not seen a single film open lower than at the top spot of the global box office. Not even a worldwide pandemic, one that forced the film to be held back by over an entire year (having originally been set to come out in May of last year), could make the certainty of success any less feasible; if anything, having to wait longer has only made some people even more eager to go out to their local theater and see this newest addition of the world’s most popular superhero film franchise.
Sure enough, when the film did finally premiere in theaters across the globe on July 9th, its weekend earnings were nothing short of satisfactory. With a gross of around $80 million from the North American box office over the three-day period, “Black Widow” bested previous title holder “F9” to receive the largest opening weekend of any film released since the start of the pandemic. Outside the continent, the film received an additional $78 million from forty-six international markets (not including movie-going powerhouse China, where a release date for the film has not yet been set), resulting in a worldwide weekend gross of around $158 million. Not since December of 2019, when “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”, has a film earned this much over its opening weekend, and should word of mouth be positive enough to keep the film’s momentum going for at least a couple more weeks (on Rotten Tomatoes, “Black Widow” currently has an 80% approval rating), there’s plenty more to earn over the duration of its theatrical window. All in all, Marvel looks to have yet another major success on their hands, more or less exactly what everybody expected.
What everybody may not have expected, however, was the additional information that Disney, parent company of Marvel, revealed when announcing how “Black Widow” had performed over the weekend. On top of the revenue the company received from theatrical exhibition, Disney also claimed to have earned over $60 million from Premium Access fees paid through its streaming service Disney+. Released simultaneously in both theaters and onto Disney’s own personal streaming platform, “Black Widow” was made available for a $30 dollar surcharge (in addition to the regular monthly payments made by most subscribers). Judging by what Disney claims the film made through streaming, it can be assumed that over two million households opted to view the film through their own personal devices rather than go out to see it at their local theater.
Disney revealing how much “Black Widow” earned from those viewing the film through Disney+ comes as something of a shock considering its refusal to discuss such details for the previous films released in such a manner. Earlier this year, Disney released its animated fantasy “Raya and the Last Dragon” and the live-action “Cruella” in both theaters and on Disney+ with a $30 surcharge, with many citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as the primary reason for the studio to have these films exhibited both theatrically and in-home (not wanting to risk losing too much money in a situation where many theaters had yet to reopen). Although Disney was happy to share how much each of these films made through theatrical ticket sales, it refused to do the same with how much money each film made through streaming. This has led many to believe that neither “Raya” nor “Cruella” performed as well as desired through rental sales on Disney+; such claims were heightened when “Raya” was revealed to have skyrocketed in viewership once it was made available for free viewing on Disney+, further implying that initially charging $30 for the film did not pay off as well as the studio may have liked. Whether or not a similar situation will occur with “Cruella” has yet to be seen, as the film will not be made available for free until later in August.
None of this seems to be the case with “Black Widow” though, as Disney seems comfortable enough to reveal how much the film had earned through Disney+ rentals. Compared to the $158 million made through theatrical exhibition, one might be led to believe that the $60 million the film received through streaming might be a bit underwhelming. However, it should be noted that all of the money “Black Widow” takes in from streaming goes entirely to Disney, whereas ticket sales have to be shared between the studio and the thousands of theaters that are able to screen the film. Depending on how much of the revenue is given to theaters, it’s quite possible that Disney gained just as much money through streaming “Black Widow” on Disney+, if not more so, as it did through making the film available for theatrical viewing.
How will this affect films made by Disney that are anticipated to come out in the future? For its next few releases, there likely won’t be much change. Although Disney’s next film, the action-fantasy “Jungle Cruise”, will also receive a simultaneous release in theaters and on Disney+, the studio seems to be pulling back a bit with the films that will be following shortly afterward. At the moment, “Free Guy”, a sci-fi comedy from Disney acquisition 20th Century Studios, and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”, yet another addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, are currently planned to be released exclusively in theaters, avoiding Disney+’s Premium Access option altogether and making the films entirely dependent on theatrical ticket sales. With the pandemic easing in many parts of the world, there’s supposedly less of a risk for these films than there would be if they had been released earlier in the year. However, with the success of “Black Widow” in both theaters and on streaming, there’s no guarantee that the dual-release strategy is going away any time soon, and depending on how well “Free Guy” and “Shang-Chi” do, the strategy may become even more prominent than ever.
“Black Widow” is definitive proof of how much the business of movies has changed since the start of the pandemic. Whether or not those changes will become permanent or just temporary (and to what degree), the industry may not know for quite some time.
