Black Widow Box Office: MCU film earns pandemic best USD 39.5 million on its Friday debut in US

Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney for breach of contract after it released her latest film on its streaming service.

Related: Scarlett Johansson criticises ‘hypersexualisation’ of Black Widow in Iron Man 2 Johansson claims that her salary was based on the box office performance of the film, which opened strong with $80m in the US but suffered the steepest second week decline of any entry within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, dropping 67%. Exhibitors later criticised Disney, blaming the hybrid release for the drop.

Zack Snyder‘s “Justice League” featured “Spider-Man” actor and Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Jim Gordon, and we all assumed that would be the end of his run in the DCEU as the studio attempted to pivot with Matt Reeves‘ “The Batman” adding Jeffrey Wright (“No Time To Die,” “Westworld“) as the new Jim Gordon and likely will appear in the HBO Max series.

Marvel Studios is doomed! Movie theaters are going to disappear! The sky is falling! Okay, that’s just hyperbole. But if you look at the last week of box office news, starting with the surprising financial decline of “Black Widow” and the incredibly harsh words from the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), there is some concern that maybe folks aren’t flocking back to cinemas as fast as we hoped.

Disney+ for poor box office returns on Marvel’s Black Widow.The film smashed US box office records in the pandemic era, earning $80million (£58.8million) in cinemas and $60million (£44million) on the streaming service in its opening weekend.But the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), the US industry’s main lobbying arm, was critical of the film’s rollout.“Despite assertions that this pandemic-era improvised release strategy was a success for Disney and the simultaneous release model,

Marvel‘s “Black Widow” had a pandemic-record opening making $80.3 million last weekend. However, in its second frame, the top spot has been usurped by LeBron James‘ “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” as the sequel has earned $31.6 million, which is still slightly less than WarnerMedia was hoping for, but the studio is also offering a home viewing option to HBO Max subscribers.

“Despite assertions that this pandemic-era improvised release strategy was a success for Disney and the simultaneous release model, it demonstrates that an exclusive theatrical release means more revenue for all stakeholders in every cycle of the movie’s life,” NATO said in a statement. The trade organization for movie theaters predicts that a theatrically exclusive release for “Black Widow” could have netted a $90 million-plus opening at the box office.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterMovie theater operators did not mince words in asserting that Disney left money on the table by putting Marvel’s “Black Widow” on Disney Plus on the same day as its theatrical debut.“Despite assertions that this pandemic-era improvised release strategy was a success for Disney and the simultaneous release model, it demonstrates that an exclusive theatrical release means more revenue for all stakeholders in every cycle of the movie’s life,” the National

**Minor spoilers ahead for “Black Widow.”** Marvel‘s “Black Widow” had plenty of Easter Eggs and a big standout was the prison arm wrestling scene when David Harbour‘s Red Guardian snaps the wrist of a large fella that was willing to call him out on his tall tales of battling against Captain America, who is pointed out to be frozen at this point time.

Yahoo! Finance. AMC brought in 3.2 million moviegoers, with 2.5 million in US theaters and 650,000 internationally.

*SPOILERS ALERT* Black Widow, which released in the US on July 9, features a post-credits scene in which Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) visits Natasha Romanoff's (Scarlett Johansson) grave post her heartbreaking death in Avengers: Endgame.

Black Widow is making history with its box office earnings and the film has now clinched a massive opening weekend collection of USD 80 million in the US as reported by Variety. It's the highest debut ever since the pandemic.

This weekend saw Disney test out a hybrid release with one of their top-tier releases, as “Black Widow” starring Scarlett Johansson hit both theaters and Premier Access on Disney+ this weekend. The studio had delayed the film’s release by more than a year due to the pandemic, and it seems to have paid off in a major way.

Just as notable is Disney’s announcement that the Marvel film earned over $60 million worldwide from its Premier Access program, which made “Black Widow” available at home for Disney+ subscribers for $30. This is the first time that Disney has released any PVOD numbers since “Mulan” moved from theaters to Premier Access last summer, with the studio retaining all revenue from those PVOD sales as opposed to splitting it with theaters.

One of Marvel's most-anticipated films, Black Widow released in the US and several other countries on July 9. After facing multiple delays owing to the pandemic, the film became the first MCU project to hit the screens amid the pandemic.

Ellise Shafer administratorMarvel’s “Black Widow” is poised to make an $87.8 million debut at the domestic box office, which would best the pandemic-era opening record previously held by “F9.”Having raked in a mighty $39.5 million on Friday from 4,160 theaters, “Black Widow” is set to easily earn another $48 million on Saturday and Sunday, with a final number that may shoot even higher than industry estimates.

Finally, Black Widow has hit theatres in the US and several other countries (not India, as of yet, unfortunately!) and is predicted to be the biggest box office draw in the COVID-19 pandemic era, overthrowing Vin Diesel and John Cena's F9.

Black Widow might be making major bank at the box office for opening weekend.