Could Black Widow Be a Streaming Play for Marvel Studios?

As the coronavirus pandemic continues spreading across America, organizations are taking drastic [...]

As the coronavirus pandemic continues spreading across America, organizations are taking drastic measures to help combat the spread. We've seen entire countries go on lockdown and as of Tuesday, New York City is effectively closing all theaters, concert venues, and the like. Around the circles this particular website covers, we've seen studios delay nearly every release between now and May and moments ago, Universal made a massive announcement that it would be rolling out new releases — such as The Invisible Man and The Hunt — just weeks after the flicks first hit theaters. In this case, both of the aforementioned Universal movies plus Emma will be available as early as this Friday. Trolls World Tour — which has a theatrical release of April 10th — will be available from on-demand services the same day it was intended to hit theaters.

Since news constantly shifting with each passing hour and companies continue making completely unprecedented steps in trying to service customers while the pandemic grows, we've got to ask a question — could Disney be prepping a major change for Black Widow?

With a changing-by-the-minute landscape, is there any chance Marvel Studios would ever throw Black Widow on Disney+? Probably not, as it would result in potentially billions — or at the very least, hundreds of millions — at the box office. But with drastic measures from Universal in place, could Marvel and Disney offer the flick as a rental through on-demand services? Still unlikely but again, we're in unprecedented territory here. This is nothing but pure speculation, but it's arguably more surprising at this point in time the film has kept its release date instead of delaying a month or two.

Over the weekend, the House of Mouse added Frozen 2 to Disney+ a full three months ahead of schedule and let on-demand services sell digital copies of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker three days ahead of schedule. On the surface, it would seem the company was prepping some PR moves for impending news that wouldn't go over well with fans.

As of now, Black Widow from Marvel Studios is virtually the last major box office tentpole over the next two months to remain in its release date and with each passing day, it looks increasingly unlikely the studio will be forced to delay it at one point or another. In fact, the White House announced just moments ago that it was advising against gatherings of 10 people or more for the foreseeable future.

There's the potential — a very slim potential, admittedly — that Black Widow could still make its theatrical release on May 1st, but I'm not sure it's something worth holding your breath for.

Do you think Marvel Studios will end up delaying Black Widow? Why or why not? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

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