Speaking with investors earlier today, Disney CEO Bob Chapek says the Mouse House remains committed to keeping its female superhero event feature “Black Widow” as a big-screen theatrical experience.
However, Chapek also includes a caveat that suggests Disney could change their mind at any time: “We are still intending for it to be a theatrical release. We are going to be watching very carefully to see whether that strategy needs to be revisited.”
Factors that could change that strategy include how many theaters remain closed in the U.S. and overall audience demand for the theatrical experience as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
Disney is still experimenting with releasing its films on the Disney+ service though, either as a free inclusion with membership (ala “Soul,” “Artemis Fowl”) or under a Premier Access tier for an additional $29.99 like with “Mulan” and the upcoming “Raya and the Last Dragon” next month.
Whatever the strategy is, it’s working as Disney+ now boasts 94.9 million subscribers – jumping up by 8.1 million subscribers in December alone.
Despite the subscriber growth streaming remains a money loser for Disney as its various direct-to-consumer platforms generated $3.5 billion in revenue but lost $466 million. Even so, that’s a significant decrease from $1.1 billion in losses during the same period last year.
Source: THR
