What Disney Said About Upcoming Movie Release Schedule During Yesterday’s Earnings Report
As we reported here at MickeyBlog, yesterday Disney reported on its 2nd quarter earnings during a conference call with shareholders. During that time Disney CEO Bob Chapek took a few minutes to discuss what the COVID-19 closures mean for upcoming movies that are currently in production or intended for release at the theaters.
Chapek said, “We very much believe in the value of the theatrical experience,” he said in discussing Disney’s fiscal second quarter. “But we also believe that either because of changing and evolving consumer dynamics or because of certain situations like COVID, we may have to make some changes to that overall strategy. … We’re going to evaluate each of our movies as a case-by-case situation, as we are doing during this coronavirus situation.”
As DEADLINE reports, during yesterday’s call, Chapek talked about Artemis Fowl going direct to Disney+ saying that the decision was made based on “demographic appeal” for Disney’s streaming services. Chapek also said in the call that Disney will consider releasing a film directly to streaming on a “case-by-case” basis.
Upcoming projects like Mulan and Black Widow have been pushed back until theaters make the move to re-open. As Inverse.com points out, Disney can afford to wait out the pandemic and release movies in theaters because that’s still where studios like Disney still earn the biggest profits.
During the call, Chapek noted, that Mulan with it’s July 24th release date will be used to test the waters as to whether moviegoers are ready to return to the theaters.
However, as Deadline points out, what kind of climate Mulan is released in remains to be seen. However, it won’t be the first film to hit theaters once cinemas around the world re-open. As Chapek pointed out during his call, “We’re going to get a pretty good idea about that because there’s a competitive movie that opens up one week before ours.” (referring to Tenet from Warner Brothers. Chapek added, “At that point, we’re hoping that there’s some return to some semblance of normal in terms of the number of screens that are opening and the number of showtimes. … Our fingers are crossed.”
With that in mind, Chapek noted that there needs to be a certain degree of flexibility based on consumer appetite and that this will inevitably have an impact on the upcoming release schedule:
He said, “But we also realize that either because of changing and evolving consumer dynamics or because of certain situations like COVID, we may have to make some changes to that overall strategy just because theaters aren’t open, or aren’t open to the extent everybody needs to be financially viable.” Chapek added, “So we’re going to evaluate every one of movies on a case-by-case situation as we are doing right now during this coronavirus situation.”
Here’s a quick look at Disney’s upcoming release schedule:
2020
- Mulan (Disney)—July 24, 2020
- Empty Man (20th Century Studios)—August 7, 2020
- The One and Only Ivan (Disney)—August 14, 2020
- The Beatles: Get Back (Disney)—September 4, 2020
- The King’s Man (20th Century Studios)—September 18, 2020
- Death on the Nile (20th Century Studios)—October 9, 2020
- The French Dispatch (Searchlight Pictures)—October 16, 2020
- Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (20th Century Studios)—October 23, 2020
- Black Widow (Marvel Studios)—November 6, 2020
- Deep Water (20th Century Studios)—November 13, 2020
- Soul (Disney and Pixar)—November 20, 2020
- Free Guy (20th Century Studios)—December 11, 2020
- West Side Story (20th Century Studios)—December 18, 2020
- The Last Duel (20th Century Studios)—December 25, 2020 (limited)
2021
- The Last Duel (20th Century Studios)—January 8, 2021 (Wide)
- The Eternals (Marvel Studios)—February 12, 2021
- Ron’s Gone Wrong (20th Century Studios)—February 26, 2021
- Raya and the Last Dragon (Walt Disney Animation Studios)—March 12, 2021
- Bob’s Burgers (20th Century Studios)—April 9, 2021
- Untitled 20th Century—April 23, 2021
- Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Marvel Studios)—May 7, 2021
- Cruella (Disney)—May 28, 2021
- Untitled Pixar Animation—June 18, 2021
- Jungle Cruise (Disney)—July 30, 2021
- Untitled 20th Century—August 13, 2021
- Untitled 20th Century—September 10, 2021
- Untitled 20th Century—October 1, 2021
- Hamilton (Disney)—October 15, 2021
- Untitled 20th Century—October 22, 2021
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Marvel Studios)—November 5, 2021
- Untitled Disney Live Action—November 19, 2021
- Untitled Disney Animation—November 24, 2021
- Untitled 20th Century—December 3, 2021
- AVATAR 2 (20th Century Studios)—December 17, 2021
2022
- Untitled 20th Century—January 7, 2022
- Nimona (20th Century Studios)—January 14, 2022
- Thor: Love and Thunder (Marvel Studios)—February 18, 2022
- Untitled Pixar Animation—March 11, 2022
- Untitled Disney Live-Action—March 25, 2022
- Untitled 20th Century—April 8, 2022
- Black Panther 2 (Marvel Studios)—May 6, 2022
- Untitled Disney Live-Action—May 27, 2022
- Untitled 20th Century—June 10, 2022
- Untitled Pixar Animation—June 17, 2022
- Captain Marvel 2 (Marvel Studios)—July 8, 2022
- Untitled Indiana Jones (Disney)—July 29, 2022
- Untitled Disney Live-Action—August 12, 2022
- Untitled 20th Century—September 16, 2022
- Untitled Marvel—October 7, 2022
- Untitled 20th Century—October 21, 2022
- Untitled Disney Live-Action—November 4, 2022
- Untitled 20th Century—November 11, 2022
- Untitled Disney Animation—November 23, 2022
- Untitled Star Wars (Lucasfilm)—December 16, 2022
- Untitled 20th Century—December 23, 2022
So for now, Disney has all of its releases plotted out and is reluctant to push films to the Disney+ streaming network. However, this is all changeable based on the future impact of COVID-19 as well as the vitality of cinemas.
Readers are encouraged to keep following along with MickeyBlog and we promise to keep you posted regarding upcoming developments.
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Source: DEADLINE, Inverse.com