Now that Black Widow has a November 2020 release date after global box office conditions forced the film to abandon its spring premiere, Kevin Smith took the time to explain to fans why they never should have got their hopes up that the Marvel movie would drop early on Disney+ or even video-on-demand.
During his Fatman Beyond Live broadcast, Smith got very blunt when co-host Marc Bernardin mentioned that Disney had already moved Artemis Fowl to Disney+ and Disney CEO Bob Iger has said other films could make a similar move. Smith made it very clear that shifting films like Artemis Fowl whose box-office draws aren’t a sure thing makes sense, but that would never be the case with Marvel “because those movies make f*cking money, man, legit f*cking money.”
Obviously, Smith is correct. The Marvel movies are box-office behemoths with many of them bringing in over a billion dollars during their theatrical runs. Disney isn’t about to lose that kind of money just to entice users to its streaming service. However, Smith does offer one scenario where putting Black Widow on VOD early could work, but it comes with one hell of a price tag. Via Comic Book:
“Honestly, the only way they could do it — and I bet you they could, I bet you this would work — you put out Black Widow on transactional video and you charge $100 a copy. People would still buy it, dude. We’re crazy, we’re stupid,” Smith said. “Think about it, it’s even a pretty good deal if you’ve got a big household. You’ve got five people in the house, that’s what you’d spend going to see it in a movie theater, you get to watch it in the privacy of your own home.”
Could Smith’s plan actually work? He seems to think so. In fact, he predicts it would force movie studios to abandon the theater model altogether. “If we all did that, that would change the world,” he said. “They’d be like, ‘F*ck movie theaters! Sell them these movies for $100 a pop.’” Considering the average movie ticket is $10 to $12, that’s a hefty price jump. Sure, people love the Marvel movies and flock to see them in droves. But do they love them enough to drop a cool hundred just to rent one? That’s a pretty big ask.
(Via Comic Book)