Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow Is Going To Home Video Sooner Than Expected
Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow is coming to home video much sooner than expected. Here are the features you'll see.
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Those without access to Marvel Studios’ biggest, and only, hit of the year, Black Widow, will be able to see the Scarlett Johansson-led film sooner than expected from the comfort of their home. Like many releases in the era of the coronavirus, Black Widow premiered both in theaters and on the Disney+ streaming platform for a premium price. Unfortunately, with theaters still closed or offering limited access around the country and hesitation to pay money on top of a monthly subscription, many people have still been unable to view what is possibly Scarlett Johansson’s last outing as the character first introduced in Iron Man 2.
Luckily for them, Marvel announced on Monday that Black Widow will be available for digital home viewing outside the Disney+ paywall as early as August 10. Meanwhile, those hoping for a physical copy on DVD or Blu-ray can look forward to picking up their copy on September 14. Lastly, those who were justifiably stingy Disney+ subscribers will be allowed to view Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh’s adventure on October 6 without having to pay anything beyond their usual subscription.
According to CNET, the home release includes nine deleted scenes, a blooper reel, and a featurette on the training regimen that Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh had to go through in order to pull off their impressive fight moves in the film. The outlet also promises deleted scenes with more of the movie’s bike chase and gulag fight as well as a bit more from the movie’s villain, Taskmaster.
While this is welcome news to those who were unable to make it to the theater or pay extra for Disney+, the barriers to entry that Black Widow endured didn’t dampen the Scarlett Johansson-led film’s showing at the box office. Deadline reported earlier this month that the movie broke the box office record for a film released amid the coronavirus pandemic. While crossing the $100 million threshold is not unheard of, if not totally expected, for a Marvel summertime tentpole, it’s an impressive number at a time when theaters are either at limited capacity, closed, or facing a community that’s fearful of coronavirus variants and unvaccinated patrons.
Gizmodo notes that Marvel is going further down a rabbit hole of staggered releases when it comes to putting Scarlett Johansson’s first standalone movie in people’s homes. Where once there was a day when the film would be available everywhere, now there’s a release on various platforms that spans a two-month period. Given its success at the box office, it will be interesting to see if Black Widow experiences another wave of newcomers in August or if perhaps people will wait for a rewatch in October.
However, it’s not altogether surprising for Marvel to try and get the movie in front of as many fans as possible before the end of the year. Those who stuck around for the post-credits scene of the movie will know that it seemingly sets up the upcoming Disney+ TV series Hawkeye, which Marvel lists as set to release sometime before the end of 2021. While Scarlett Johansson isn’t expected to appear in the series, the scene makes it clear that Hawkeye viewers should be familiar with Florence Pugh’s Yelena as quickly as possible ahead of her return in the series. As for whether or not she’ll appear as an ally or adversary remains to be seen.
