Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is set to be released in theaters on September 3, but with concerns surrounding the Delta variant of COVID-19, there's been plenty of talk online about it heading down the Premier Access route on Disney+. That's not happening, though, and we finally got an explanation during Disney's investor call yesterday evening.
According to Disney CEO Bob Chapek, due to distribution agreements, it's simply too late to change how the Marvel Studios movie will be rolled out next month. However, it's still going to be something of an experiment for Disney because Shang-Chi will have a 45-day exclusive window in theaters before it's made available on Digital platforms (45 days is obviously much shorter than the standard 90 day window).
Apparently, Disney will be keeping an eye on this to see how it works for future movies.
Oh, and for those of you wondering why Free Guy isn't heading down the Premier Access route, it's because Disney inherited that movie from Fox, and a theatrical debut was agreed on long before the pandemic.
Something that rang alarm bells for many fans tuning into this earnings call was when Chapek referred to Eternals as a 2022 movie. Don't panic, though: he was actually talking about fiscal 2022, and it's since been confirmed that the Marvel Studios movie will still be released on November 5, this year.
We'll keep you guys updated should anything change!
About The Author:
Comic Book Reader. Film Lover. WWE and F1 Fan. Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and ComicBookMovie.com's #1 contributor.