Sharjah24 – Reuters: Walt Disney Co said on Friday it will release "Eternals," "West Side Story" and the rest of its 2021 films exclusively in theaters before sending them to streaming, a show of confidence that moviegoing will rebound.
That comes after its latest release set a Labor Day weekend record in ticket sales, having only debuted in cinemas, generating more than USD$94 million in the U.S. and Canada.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings features a predominantly-Asian cast and is the first Marvel movie about an Asian superhero.
As the global health crisis forced many theatres to shut, and with the Delta variant slowing a return to cinemas, Disney experimented with releasing some of its movies on its own streaming service Disney+ while running them in theatres.
Cinema operators have been keeping a close eye on Disney, which has dominated movie box offices in recent years.
Though moviegoing for the year has remained well below levels seen before the ongoing crisis, cinema chains are hoping to lure people back with big fall and winter titles.
Disney said many of its upcoming films including Marvel's 'Eternals' and Steven Spielberg's revival of 'West Side Story' will run in cinemas for at least forty-five days, before moving to Disney+.
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