Shang-Chi to debut only in theaters as part of “experiment”

Between Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit, rising COVID cases and hesitant theater-goers, what’s Disney to do with its upcoming movies?

Movie theaters are in a very weird place right now. After over a year when people understandably avoided them on account of the coronavirus sweeping throughout the world, they were starting to open back up as people got vaccinated…and the Delta variant of the coronavirus got going, cases started to rise again, and theaters are once again left in a lurch. Clearly, a lot of people are still not willing to go to theaters, which can explain less-than-huge box office numbers for movies like Black Widow and The Suicide Squad.

Some studios have tried to get around this by releasing movies straight to streaming, either free with a subscription — as Warner Bros. has been doing with its movies on HBO Max — or for an extra fee — as Disney did on Disney+ with films like Black Widow. But that’s caused other problems, as when star Scarlett Johansson sued the studio, claiming that the decision to release the movie right to Disney+ cost her as much as $50 million in profit sharing payments.

We’ll see how that case goes. Warner Bros. is staying the course and planning to release the rest of its 2021 slate in both theaters and on HBO Max (they’ll be back at theaters exclusively in 2022), but Disney is doing what CEO Bob Chapek named “an interesting experiment” during an earnings call with investors the other day: both Free Guy and the upcoming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will be released exclusively in theaters, but will come to Disney+ after only 45 days, which is shorter than the normal wait period. No word on whether you’ll have to pay an extra fee to watch them they hit streaming.

That said, it sounds like Chapek and folk are still retaining the option to go day-and-date if the need arises. “[J]ust to reiterate, distribution decisions are made on a film-by-film basis. We will continue to utilize all options going forward,” he said. “Obviously, this world has been disrupted by COVID and we are all reacting to a very fluid situation.”

You have to wonder whether this “experiment” was brought on by Johansson’s lawsuit, and the fear that others may follow suit and sue the company. Chapek didn’t mention Johansson’s suit, but it was clearly on his mind when he said that Disney has “entered into hundreds of talent arrangements” that have “by and large gone very smoothly.”

"These films were conceived during a time when…we certainly didn’t know about COVID. Just like what we’ve done many times before, we’ve found ways to fairly compensate our talent so that, no matter what, everyone feels satisfied."

That’s a lot gentler than Disney’s official response to Johansson’s suit.

With coronavirus cases on the upswing again, I think that Warner Bros. is looking more and more like it made the right decision when it opted to release movies on both HBO Max and into theaters, at least for this year. I think that some of what we’re seeing now — Johansson’s lawsuit, the directors raging against Warner Bros. for their release strategy — are the throes of insiders who stand to lose money and influence as the industry changes…but it’s going to change anyway. I still love going to the theater, but I’m happy to also have the choice to watch things on streaming if I want, and I think enough people feel the same way that it’ll happen, sooner or later.

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h/t The Hollywood Reporter, CBR