Disney CEO Bob Chapek recently offered more clues into how Disney will handle movie releases after the coronavirus pandemic, and it seems like the company is leaning more into the streaming space.
What’s going on?
Chapek spoke with Variety about consumer behavior toward movies last year, saying he recognized people are staying away from theaters and demanding streaming options sooner.
- “I think the consumer is probably more impatient than they’ve ever been before,” he said. “Particularly since now they’ve had the luxury of an entire year of getting titles at home pretty much when they want them. So I’m not sure there’s going back, but we certainly don’t want to do anything like cut the legs off a theatrical exhibition run.”
Consumer behavior will drive decisions made by Disney in the future, Chapek said.
- “I don’t think they’ll have much of a tolerance for a title, say, being out of theatrical for months, yet it hasn’t had a chance to actually be thrown into the marketplace in another distribution channel, just sort of sitting there getting dust,” he added.
Context
We’ve seen this already in practice. For example, Disney released “Mulan” in theaters and through Disney+ as a “Premier Access” option, which allowed people to watch the film early for an extra $30, which we previously wrote about.
“Raya and the Last Dragon” will follow a similar path. It will open in theaters on March 5 but it will be available through “Premier Access” on Disney+ on the same day, according to NME.
- Chapek said: “It certainly makes a lot of sense right now, in a COVID world, to have an option. Obviously, theaters aren’t going to be 100% back. But it’s nice to know that we’ve got the ability for people who do want to enjoy it in their home — because they don’t quite feel confident in going to a movie theater — that they’ve got that choice. What this looks like in the future? Well, we’re going to gain a lot of experience and a lot of data points.”
More questions
We still don’t know what this means for the upcoming Marvel film “Black Widow.” Since 2020, Marvel fans have wondered if “Black Widow” will be released on Disney+ instead of theaters, as I’ve written about before. The film was pushed back multiple times because the pandemic raged on and kept people from watching the film in theaters.
In February, Chapek said the company will review data before making a decision on “Black Widow.”
- “We’re going to be watching very carefully the reopening of theaters and consumer sentiment on going back to theaters,” he said, according to Variety.