Well, that was quick.
You take last year’s summer-season $100 million-plus budgeted theatrical release, no, no wait, last year’s Christmas-season $100 million-plus budgeted theatrical release, which was delayed from last summer, and then pulled from the Christmas replacement time slot because of the Wuhan virus and all of the insanity that flowed from it … and then it finally got a mid-August theatrical launch this year. The film in question pulls in $80 million in its first two weeks, what do you do if you are Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment?
Before we answer that, we should point out that we are talking about director Shawn Levy’s Free Guy, starring Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Corner, which was originally targeted for the summer of 2020, but moved to Christmas when theatres shutdown. Free Guy was then moved out of that slot when it became obvious that it would not see the numbers expected.
Finally, it gets a summer of 2021 release and shines. So, to answer the question, what does Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment do with the film? Option A, let it run into the fall, perhaps pulling in $150 million or more in ticket sales and then release it to the home entertainment packaged media market place in the November/December timeframe. Or, Option B, set a theatrical-to-home window of just 60 days and dump it?
Tick tock. Tick tock. Time is up. Option B, of course.
Free Guy will be heading home on Oct. 12 as a three-SKU product offering. There will be stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray selections, plus a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack edition. That date yields, as mentioned, an ARR of just 60-days. From an exhibitor’s POV, that short of a window for a major theatrical release is a slap in the face.
This is the same studio that got the wrath of Scarlett Johansson — in the form of a multi-million-dollar lawsuit — over their handling of Black Widow. Yes, you guessed it, the same studio that ignores the piracy of Cruella, Jungle Cruise, Black Widow and more. It is no longer about the theatrical marketplace (and its health) or home entertainment, but rather the new god of Disney+ … chaos reigns.
Bonus features include deleted and extended scenes, a gag reel and a quartet of featurettes — “Dude vs. Guy,” “Creating Molotovgirl,” “It’s Taika’s World” and Welcome to Free City.”
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