Marvel Studios and Disney have once again delayed Black Widow. This time, the film is going to release on July 9, 2021 both in theaters and on Disney+. This move comes after a series of slight shifts in the 2021 release schedule for films intended for the first half of the year. Black Widow was originally supposed to be released more than one year prior to this date, originally slated for a date in May of 2020. The coronavirus pandemic prompted a global shutdown of theaters and gatherings, which saw Black Widow fall to November of 2020 and then May of 2021. Now, the film seems more confidently slated for the summer of 2021.
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Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings has also been delayed to September 3.
“I mean, confidence is meaningless in today’s world because nobody knows anything. Hope springs eternal,” Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige told ComicBook.com about Black Widow’s release date in a January interview. “A year delay, you hope would be enough, there’s a vaccine out there now. We’ll see. I certainly hope so. I want to be back in the theater with people.”
Black Widow had already launched a marketing campaign in early 2020 when it was planned for a release in May of last year, complete with trailers, TV spots, and posters. Now, Disney and Marvel Studios have to maneuver re-launching that campaign which they plan to take a fresh approach with, in addition to having Shang-Chi on its back for a release just a few months after Black Widow. “We’ve had that before. Endgame and Far From Home were [two months apart],” Feige explained. “We have the pleasure and the privilege of working with the greatest marketing department in the history of Hollywood, so restarting that campaign, any of those campaigns, I have great confidence in. What I don’t have confidence is the timing because we’re dealing with this whole pandemic.”
In the mean time, Marvel Studios has fed its audience with WandaVision and will continue to do so when The Falcon and The Winter Soldier begins dropping new episodes on March 19. Are you excited for Black Widow to finally drop in theaters in her own movie? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram!
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