Streaming has to wait – Disney shows films again exclusively in the cinema – cinema

Is going to the cinema finally going to be something special again?

During the corona pandemic, Disney did not first show the latest blockbusters on the big screen, as usual, but ran them in parallel on the in-house streaming service Disney +. Now Walt Disney Co. has announced that all remaining films will only be shown in theaters this year.

These include Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel” (October 15), the animated film “Ron’s Gone Wrong” (October 22), the Marvel film “Eternals” (November 5), Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” (10 November) December) and the Kingsman sequel “The King’s Man” (December 22nd). The animated musical “Encanto” will run for 30 days in cinemas from November 24th and will then also be shown on Disney + shortly before Christmas. All other films will be shown exclusively in theaters for at least 45 days, according to the company.

Disney’s move comes after a year in which the studio, with a few exceptions such as the latest hit “Free Guy”, presented many of its releases both in theaters and on Disney + in so-called “Day and Date” releases.

This included the Marvel film “Black Widow” with Scarlett Johansson. The actress had sued Walt Disney for millions of dollars this summer for robbing her of potential revenue for this release strategy. Disney called the lawsuit unfounded. A judgment is still pending.

Cinema owners complained that the simultaneous streaming start not only resulted in the loss of millions in revenue, but also the cultural devaluation of films.

And the latest box office results show that a pure cinema release has more power. Disney’s “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” broke a record in the USA last weekend and grossed 90 million US dollars over the four-day Labor Day weekend.