Black Widow Delayed Indefinitely

COVID-19 has finally claimed a Marvel movie. It looks like Marvel has removed Black Widow from their release date of May 1st. The Scarlett Johansson-starring superhero film is just the latest tentpole film removed from release. Disney also removed The Personal History of David Copperfield from their Searchlight Pictures banner and The Woman in the Window from 20th Century Studios from their scheduled dates.

These films join other Disney-owned films like Mulan, The New Mutants, and Antlers.

To be fair, this isn’t an easy choice and one that doesn’t appear to be up to the company after forced closings in several states as well as Regal and AMC’s decision to shut down for the time being. This isn’t entirely up to the studios nor is it up to the movie theaters.

Now, I’ve been saying since all this coronavirus stuff has been building that we need to take it seriously. I’m not out there panic buying food and supplies (I’m looking at you TP-buyers) but I firmly believe that we need to be making smart decisions moving forward until this situation is over. That means social distancing and not going to places that we don’t need to go. Let me be completely clear on this: we do not NEED to be going to the cinema right now. Trust me, I feel like I NEED to be going to the movies, and my own birthday was a few days ago, and I didn’t go to the theater. In any given week, I’m at the theater 2-4 times, so if I’m saying our theaters should be closed and we shouldn’t be going, then that really means something.

So yes, good on Disney for playing it smart and removing these films from their schedule. Disney is losing billions right now from their parks and film releases, so I’m happy that they are moving films off the schedule in the interest of public health (and their pocketbooks).

Now, what do you think? I’m hearing people clamoring for Black Widow to be released directly on Disney+, but that will never happen as Disney would lose tens of millions of dollars, so do you think the early delay of this film seems like a good idea, and when do you feel like we’ll actually see Black Widow? Let me know/Drop a comment below!

-Kyle A. Goethe