Black Widow’s Box Office Projections Spike Following July Release Move

It looks as if Disney’s decision to push out Black Widow by a few months may mean a lot for the MCU film’s box office success. As noted, Disney announced last month that the Scarlett Johansson-starring film would release day-and-date on Disney+ Premier Access and in theaters on July 9th, a month-plus move away from its May 28th date. Now, a report from box office site The Numbers has revised projections of a $170 million box office and a $63 million opening.

While those are not Avengers-style numbers, it must of course be noted that this is still pandemic-era movie numbers, albeit as things open up some. The $170 million projection with a delay of just two months is also a big upgrade from the May 28th projection of $45 million. Add in the money that the film will bring in through the $29.99 Premier Access price for those who want to watch the movie at home as a family and the movie looks to be on much firmer ground than it would have been not long ago.

“As far as Marvel goes and other films that have pushed further back into summer, that can only help their cause at this point,” said Exhibitor Relations’ senior box office analyst Jeff Block said. “As the science of things points to the film industry getting more resilient across the board. That’s excellent news for blockbusters, considering budgets usually balloon upwards of $200M these days.”

Black Widow stars Johansson, David Harbour, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz as Melina, Ray Winstone, and O-T Fagbenle and is described as follows:

Set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, the film follows Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow as she confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.