Disney shuffles release dates, will debut Black Widow and Cruella on Disney+ and in theaters
Disney is shaking up its summer release schedule.
The studio announced a massive shuffle of its film release dates on Tuesday, pushing back several films and revealing that others — like Cruella and Black Widow — are coming to Disney+.
Disney's Cruella and Marvel's Black Widow will follow in the footsteps of Mulan and Raya and the Last Dragon, premiering both in theaters and on Disney+, available by paying for "premier access" on the streaming service. Cruella, starring Emma Stone as the iconic dognapping villain, will premiere May 28, while Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow will bow July 9.
Meanwhile, the upcoming Pixar movie Luca is skipping the U.S. theatrical release entirely and will exclusively be available to stream on Disney+, beginning June 18.
Disney also announced new release dates for several of its theatrical films: Ryan Reynolds' action-comedy Free Guy will now hit theaters Aug. 13, while the Marvel epic Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is now scheduled for Sept. 3. Release dates were also pushed back for The King's Man (now out Dec. 22), Deep Water (Jan. 14, 2022), and Death on the Nile (Feb. 11, 2022).
Disney fans began wondering whether films like Black Widow or Cruella might move to Disney+ after the ongoing pandemic has forced several studios to make their theatrical releases available for at-home streaming. Black Widow in particular has had a long, bumpy road to the screen, originally scheduled to hit theaters in May 2020, before being pushed back several times.
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