IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond stated that piracy and Disney's decision to release Black Widow both in theaters and on Disney+ are responsible for the movie's low box office numbers.
As reported by JoBlo, Gelfond discussed Black Widow's box office performance during IMAX's Q2 2021 earning call."There's really no question in my mind that the combination of PVOD and a lot of piracy -- people haven't really talked about it that much -- clearly, there's a lot of piracy that accounted for the cannibalization, and it significantly affected the box office at the end of the day," he said.
Gelfond also discussed whether the model used for the film's release will be used again in the future, saying that every studio "has seen the same data that Disney has seen."
"What Disney did is experiment during the pandemic, which is what they said they were going to do," Gelfond said. "I remember [Disney CEO] Bob Chapek saying at one of their investor days that when times are normal, he thinks theatrical is important, exclusivity is important and I think when he looks at his data and the pandemic is in the rearview mirror that he'll come to the same conclusion that everyone else does: The way to maximize value is to have a theatrical window."
Gelfond further said that he believes studios will go back to respecting the theatrical window, as the streaming strategy does not help in terms of profit.
"They used to sell the same property five times, and now they're selling it once," Gelfond said. "They might be bringing some revenue forward, but there's no proof points that it's a better model. A lot of the same people, they will come to the same conclusion."
Gelfond concluded by comparing Black Widow's performance to that of F9, which had a traditional theatrical release. He added that some statistics he found interesting were that F9 "will gross about $700 million worldwide at the end of its run, and Black Widow will gross half of that."
He continued, "Black Widow was a great movie, so when I think about it, there was no doubt a lot of money was left on the table.
In addition to its box office problems, Black Widow has also been the subject of a lawsuit from its star Scarlett Johansson regarding the release strategy. The lawsuit states that Marvel Entertainment was supposed to give the movie an exclusive theatrical release, with its box office performance being the basis for Johansson's salary. However, due to the film also being released on Disney+, Johansson's salary was decreased. Black Widow will also be Johansson's last Marvel film.
Black Widow is currently in theaters and streaming on Disney+ Premier Access.
Source: JoBlo Movie Network
0 Comments