Disney's "Black Widow" Fails to Follow Through. What That Means for Movie Theaters
The opening weekend for Walt Disney's (NYSE: DIS) newest superhero action flick Black Widow may have been impressive given the lingering echoes of the pandemic. But its second weekend was suspiciously soft. Domestic box office ticket sales of $25.6 million between last Friday and Sunday were nearly 70% below the previous weekend's revenue, according to numbers from Box Office Mojo, marking the biggest second-weekend revenue plunge for a Disney-made Marvel flick. 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp previously held that dubious honor with a 62% slide the weekend after its silver-screen debut.
What's the problem? It depends on who you ask. Some argue that the title character's death in Avengers: Endgame now makes a backstory film a little less marketable. Others suggest a resurgence in COVID-19 cases crimped consumers' willingness to visit a theater. Both are likely contributing factors. Given the sort of criticism the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) has hurled at Disney since this past weekend's box office data was tallied, though, there's every reason to believe the film's availability as an at-home streaming title is the main culprit behind the sharp box office drop.
However, the nature of this complaint is exactly why movie theater investors should be worried about Black Widow's box office data -- not Disney's shareholders.
Source Fool.com
