It’s looking as if the next long-awaited Marvel Studios filmEternalswill be following inShang Chi’s footsteps.Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Ringswas exclusively available for theaters. Yet, the previous Marvel Studios film,Black Widow, was available on both Disney Plus and in theaters.Shang Chimade box office history when it debuted this past labor day weekend.
This set up of having two different viewing options was in partwhy Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuitcame to be. She claimed that Disney Plus broke their contract by releasingBlack Widowin theaters and on Disney Plus at the same time, and this has resulted in Disney having to make some serious adjustments in the way it goes about releasing films in the future. Based on these statistics alone, Disney seems to be going further from streaming services and back to bringing in larger crowds to the theater, as seen with this latest decision forEternals.
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Matthew Bellonisays Disney CEO Bob Chapek, along with the head of distribution, Kareem Daniels, has reportedly decided thatEternals' release will be strictly reserved for the theaters. Of course, bothDisney Plus and Marvelhave had some challenges when it comes to how they collaborate on the process of distribution. They seem to have both learned their lesson the hard way fromBlack Widow’s downfall. However, this may not be the only singular reason thatEternalswill be solely featured on the big screen. The pandemic has affected almost every aspect of life, but the theaters have been drastically impacted.
Nonetheless, films likeShang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and the revenue they are drawing in as the world starts to slowly open back up, are saving the movie theaters from disappearing altogether. After all, streaming services such as Hulu, Netflix, andDisney Plus have made entertainmentaccessible virtually anywhere and have granted audiences more control in the process. It wasn’t that long ago when the only way to see a film was to wait patiently for it to come to the movie theaters, and it took even longer to wait for a DVD release. Fans have options to binge-watch, pause, and re-watch at their disposal, and, therefore, lots of people can easily suffice without the presence of movie theaters.
There’s a certain magic and excitement to going to theaters rather than streaming from home, especially since most have been stuck in the house for the past year. One quality that streaming services don’t necessarily have is the universality of human emotions that come with sharing a film with a group of strangers. Both Marvel and Disney Plus are adamant about not repeating their pastdistribution challenges withBlack Widow,and they are also simultaneously helping movie theaters to make a huge comeback.
Eternalswill be in theaters on November 5th, 2021.
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