Disney Is Doubling Down On Black Widow And More Heading To Theaters

Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow

Although traditional movie theaters are starting open back up after months of being closed, given how the current health crisis is going, this is still a strange time when it comes to the cinematic experience. Nevertheless, Disney is determined to keep some of its upcoming movies as big screen content, which includes shifting some releases around and keeping fare like Black Widow where they’re currently slotted.

First, let’s go over the scheduling changes. The King’s Man, the third entry in the Kingsman film series that flashes back over 100 years ago to show the spy organization’s origins, has already bounced around the calendar a little bit, with it most recently being dated for September 18. The King’s Man’s has now been moved to February 26, 2021, just one week before Sony’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife arrives. Nomaland, the Chloe Zhao-directed movie starring Frances McDormand, will have a limited theatrical release on December 4.

Meanwhile, Death on the Nile and Black Widow are sticking to their current release dates of October 23 and November 6, respectively. Black Widow’s release date previously belonged to fellow Marvel movie The Eternals, which has now been officially retitled to just Eternals. It was also revealed that Luca, an upcoming Pixar movie about a young boy’s unforgettable summer on the Italian Riviera, is the “Untitled Pixar Animation” movie that snagged the June 18, 2021 release date.

Had 2020 progressed like a “normal” year, Black Widow would have hit theaters in May and likely already be available on home media by now, with its Disney+ release presumably happening toward the end of the year. Alas, it was not to be, and fans are still waiting to see the Marvel Cinematic Universe launch Phase 4 with this movie showing what Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff was up to between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. As for Death on the Nile, it’s the sequel to 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express and has Kenneth Branagh directing and playing Hercule Poirot again, with the cast also including Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Russell Brand, Letitia Wright, Annette Bening and more.

Going back to The King’s Man, this movie was once slated to come out on November 19, 2019. So though it’s not quite at The New Mutants’ level of delays, we’ve still be waiting a while for it. Along with its World War I narrative, Director Matthew Vaughn teased at the beginning of this month that The King’s Man will also plant seeds for Kingsman 3, which will return audiences to the present day and show the conclusion of Taron Egerton’s Eggsy and Colin Firth’s Harry Hart’s relationship.

Other Disney-related movies that are still scheduled to come out before 2020 is over include Soul, Free Guy and West Side Story. Then there are movies like Artemis Fowl, Hamilton and The One and Only Ivan that the Mouse House shifted to Disney+ releases, while the upcoming Mulan remake will be available to Disney+ subscribers for $29.99 in the United States and have a traditional theatrical release in various other countries.

Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for all the latest and greatest in movie news, and look through our 2020 release schedule to learn what non-Disney movies are expected to come out later this year.

Adam Holmes
Senior Content Producer

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.