Disney has announced that all of its upcoming 2021 films will head to theaters before they arrive to streaming. Encanto will receive an exclusive theatrical window that will last for 30 days, Deadline reports.
Movies that will be getting a 45-day exclusive theatrical window include The Last Duel (October 15), Ron’s Gone Wrong (October 22), Eternals (November 5), West Side Story (December 10), and The King’s Man (December 22), the publication also reported.
With various different films opting to become available at home the same day it releases in theaters, Marvel’s upcoming film Eternals will remain a theaters-only release following the box office success of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings.
Screen Rant cited a report from former The Hollywood Reporter editor Matthew Belloni, who said that after Disney CEO Bob Chapek saw the success of Destin Daniel Cretton’s film, it proved to him that a theatrical release-only for other Marvel titles could be successful as well.
“After Disney CEO Bob Chapek basically dared Shang-Chi to perform in theaters over Labor Day weekend, and it did $94 million domestically, he couldn’t possibly put Eternals on Disney+ day-and-date, right? I’m told Chapek and distribution chief Kareem Daniels have made their decision on the November movie’s fate, and it will indeed receive an exclusive theatrical run,” Belloni reports.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings hauled in $75.5 million opening weekend, which is impressive because Labor Day is often a harder time for movies to rake in big numbers at the box office. This is also while the company still has major films like Spider-Man: No Way Home on its roster slated to come out at the end of this year.
