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Black Widow Premier Access Proves Movie Theaters Are Obsolete
I paid $29.99 to not deal with other people. It was wonderful.
The Avengers: Endgame was the last movie I saw in a theater. That seems like a lifetime ago at this point. While I’ve seen every Marvel release opening weekend on the big screen (except for because, well, Ant-Man), the Disney+ Black Widow Premier Access brought the movie theater to my couch.
Same-day digital streaming is not new. HBO MAX streams every Warner release for 30-days. Using the service, I watched several films I otherwise would have skipped. Mortal Kombat? Tom & Jerry? WW84? There’s no way I’d pay money in a theater for these movies, but I watched them all on the opening weekend, thanks to HBO MAX.
My wife and I debated seeing In The Heights in a theater, but the HBO MAX release made it so much easier to enjoy from home. Plus, it was already included in our monthly fee. How can you compete with that?
Slightly different from the Warner strategy, Disney releases some movies say-day ( Luca, Onward, and Soul) while others require a $29.99 Premier Access rental. Mulan, the first Premier Access film, was tempting. Ultimately, my wife and I decided to wait until it was regularly part of Disney+ Curella didn’t even hit our radar. Everything changed when Black…
