Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh star as Natasha and Yelena in Marvel’s “Black Widow.”
Disney
“Black Widow” has stolen the pandemic-era box office crown.
The latest Marvel film scored $80 million at the domestic box office during its debut, the most of any film released in the wake of the Covid epidemic.
Universal’s “F9” was the previous record-holder after snaring $70 million over its three-day launch into theaters last month.
Walt Disney also revealed that it garnered more than $60 million globally from sales of the film through Disney+ Premier Access. This is the first time the company has shared information about movie sales earned from its streaming service.
In addition, “Black Widow” tallied $78 million from international ticket sales.
“The brand equity that Marvel brings to the table is almost unrivaled and is reflected in the historic box office that the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have generated,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “Therefore, It should come as no surprise that ‘Black Widow’ snagged the biggest debut and powered the biggest overall weekend of the pandemic.”
Heading into the weekend, box office analysts predicted the film could capture at least $80 million. Strong advanced ticket sales lead some to believe it could achieve an ever higher haul, even with the film debuting on Disney+ for $30 on the same day.
Previously, Disney has remained silent on how its streaming service’s same-day offering impacted the theatrical release of a film. The $60 million it captured on Disney+ shows that this can be a viable option for the brand in the future. However, Disney’s next Marvel film “Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings” will only be available in theaters.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal distributed “F9.”
