One of the most interesting stories of …terrified—The first third or so of the COVID-19 pandemic was a dispute for several months between AMC and NBCUniversal that began when Universal announced that Trolls World Tour it did so well on demand platforms after losing its theater that future universal films could skip cinemas even after the pandemic ended. AMC was so upset by this that it stated that no Universal film would ever be played in an AMC theater, which Universal could not have cared less about, but a few months later they reached an agreement involving shortened theatrical windows that apparently pleased everyone. Then Disney started giving up movies on Disney + and Warner Bros. announced that its entire 2021 list will be released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. Basically, while AMC was worried that NBCUniversal was raising the traditional film release model, the other major studios … claimed the traditional film release model.
Warner Bros. was convinced that the HBO Max thing is a temporary solution designed to avoid further delays and to offer the few theaters that have reopened in the US some new screen releases (a plan that actually worked), but now Disney CEO Bob Chapek says he doesn’t think the old way of releasing movies will return. This came during a question and answer session at the Morgan Stanley Conference on Technology, Media and Telecommunications (via shell), Chapek explaining that people are now used to “the luxury of a whole year of getting titles at home almost whenever they want”. He added that he does not want to “cut his legs in a theatrical exhibition”, but it is clear that he is not convinced that people will want it right now, that they know that studios are willing and able to release great movies online through their dedicated platforms. streaming.
Meanwhile, like shell points out, we still don’t know if Disney will really commit to a traditional theater-only release Black Widow, which is scheduled for May 7 after being hit by the 2020 pandemic. If Chapek is serious about the potential of the new status quo, it would be strange to let Marvel Studios stay the old way of doing things – although President Biden now says US will have enough vaccines for every adult in the country by the end of May, so if Disney do what stay with the old model and the calendar works, Black Widow could be the great “theaters are back!” movie that Principle it should have been six months ago.