‘Black Widow’ Has Historically Bad Box Office Drop As Theater Owners Blame Disney+ Access

Marvel‘s “Black Widow” had a pandemic-record opening making $80.3 million last weekend. However, in its second frame, the top spot has been usurped by LeBron James‘ “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” as the sequel has earned $31.6 million, which is still slightly less than WarnerMedia was hoping for, but the studio is also offering a home viewing option to HBO Max subscribers. But even though ‘Space Jam’ won the weekend, the big story has to be “Black Widow,” and its rapid fall from grace.

READ MORE: ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ Dunks On The Original, Adding Heart & Actual Acting To The Franchise [Review]

“Black Widow” didn’t have a great second weekend, to put it mildly, as the superhero pic has dropped -67% by earning $26.2 million and likely means the movie will have a tough time reaching similar domestic totals to other modern MCU releases. Deadline also points out it is a historical second-weekend drop for MCU titles. Yes, it’s significantly worse than “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” which only declined -62% in its second weekend.

Disney is silent on new numbers for Premier Access as online viewing likely has had put a huge dent into its box office totals. The studio mentioned an impressive $60 million take last weekend but hasn’t updated since. 

READ MORE: Disney Says ‘Black Widow’ Earned An Impressive $215 Million Worldwide Between Traditional Box Office & Premier Access

The National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) issued a press release this weekend chastizing Disney for their day-and-date release model for “Black Widow” and blame the company’s hybrid release model for the MCU movie underperforming. They also mentioned the uptick in piracy due to the quality of files landing on torrent sites thanks to places like Disney+ and HBO Max offering access to high-quality versions that leak online within hours of release.

They also called out Disney for throwing out its Premier Access numbers for the first time last weekend. As a way to make the box office opening look more impressive, given that Premier Access dollars can’t be applied to box office totals.

“Early analysis pointed at the $60 million in Premier Access revenue and compared it to the domestic theatrical of $80 million and declared it a success, especially because Disney keeps every dollar of home release. It does not. Approximately 15% of revenue goes to the various platforms through which consumers access Disney+. It ignores that Premier Access revenue is not new-found money, but was pulled forward from a more traditional PVOD window, which is no longer an option,” NATO said in an official press release that was sent out over the weekend. 

Deadline claims “Black Widow” has been illegally downloaded even more than fellow superhero flick “Wonder Woman 1984,” which equals a lot of money that neither Disney nor theaters will see. 

READ MORE: Disney Will Only Commit To A 45-Day Exclusive Theatrical Run For ‘Shang-Chi’ & ‘Free Guy’

It’s certainly a pricey experiment and for now, “Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings” is sticking to a 45-day theatrical window, it’s also assumed that “Eternals” likely will do the same. Either way, after having a record-breaking weekend seven days ago, it appears there’s more to this hybrid release strategy experiment than was originally thought. We’ll have to wait and see how “Black Widow” fares in the weeks to come, as it might have a huge impact on how ‘Shang-Chi’ and “Eternals” are released in the months to come.