Black Widow‘s solo movie was supposed to go into production back in 2004 at Lionsgate. Before Marvel Studios took out a loan and the planted themselves on the Paramount lot, another studio was supposed to make the spy thriller. Well, 17 years later, and Natasha Romanoff is finally appearing in a solo movie and the director said the pandemic did not cause any changes to the film, also, Disney Plus details.
After the MCU began with Iron Man and Natasha Romanoff was introduced in Iron Man 2, later reappearing in The Avengers, fans have been clamoring for a solo Black Widow movie. Scarlett Johansson spoke about the development for the movie and after years of wait the solo film was announced after the shocking events of Avengers: Endgame.
Scarlett Johansson, along with other cast members, and director Cate Shortland started filming the movie in May 2019 in Norway. The film finished production in October 2019 and was scheduled for a 2020 release. But COVID had other ideas for everyone which is why the film was postponed multiple times. Now we know of the release, Marvel made it clear that the film will have streaming and theatre simultaneous release.
Cate Shortland says No Changes were Made to Black Widow During COVID Delays
By the time most theaters closed their doors and lockdown was in full effect the first trailer for Black Widow was already out. The release date listed was for 1 May 2020. But March lockdowns meant Disney and all other production studios pushed the release dates for their movies. There was no point in releasing a movie in theatre if no one was going to see it.
Black Widow solo movie was supposed to come out two months after the release of the trailer, that meant everything was done with the film. The final cut was locked and ready to go, but the pandemic caused the movie to be delayed for over a year. So, obviously fans were questioning if there were any changes made to the film after the lockdown.
With one year of extra time there was ample room for the production to make few adjustments. Also, the continuity of MCU was a little hampered because other Disney Plus shows were coming out. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was supposed to have a connection with Black Widow, a character introduced in the film was supposed to make an appearance in the series.
Well, that did not happen, and the cameo was of Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ character Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. But no matter the continuity changes Cate Shortland made it clear to Empire that there are no changes. She explained, “the film has been fully finished – and untouched – for a year now, just waiting to be unleashed on audiences.”
New Release Date and Disney Plus Simultaneous Release
After five different release date delays and multiple clips and trailer, we are finally getting to see Black Widow solo movie in theatre. But that is not all, the spy thriller filling the gaps between Civil War and Infinity War for Nat, will arrive simultaneously in theatre and streaming service Disney Plus via their premiere access function.
With the pandemic raging, most studios needed to pivot to a new way of making money. While most major studios had some form of streaming platform, releasing movies to stream and in theatre is not the same thing. While Warner Bros. did find success with Wonder Woman 1984, the money recouped from the film was not enough to justify the budget.
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And most Marvel films are budgeted close to $200 million, so releasing on Disney Plus only is not plausible. Raya and the Last Dragon made some decent box office numbers but Disney animations and MCU are two different beasts. So, if all theaters will not open to capacity, Disney Plus’ premiere access is coming to the rescue.
In the streaming platform you can pay $30 to get access to a movie playing in theatre. It is a sleek way of getting people signing up to their streaming platform and also making audiences pay for early access to films. So, Black Widow will be released simultaneously in theaters and Disney Plus on 9 July 2021, a month after Loki premieres on Disney Plus.
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Black Widow Disney Plus Marvel MCU Natasha Romanoff Scarlett Johansson
Last modified: May 15, 2021
