Will ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ hit theaters? For the past month, audiences and exhibitors have been waiting with bated breath for Disney’s decision. We will explain.
In the works since 2018, the Black Panther sequel almost never saw the light of day after the death of its lead comedian Chadwick Boseman in August 2020. But producer Kevin Feige and director Ryan Coogler ultimately decided to continue the saga to pay tribute. The actress chose to change her role.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on November 9, 2022. This latest Chadwick Boseman tribute is highly anticipated by MCU fans and theatergoers alike. It must be said that the first opus attracted 3.7 million viewers in France and collected 1.3 billion dollars worldwide.
But last September, during the General Assembly of the Syndicate of French Cinematographers, Disney announced the possibility of releasing Black Panther 2 directly on its Disney+ streaming platform in France.
The reason is simple: to avoid the limitations of the media timeline and promote the development of its Disney+ platform.
If it happened, Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira and Letitia Wright would host the feature film, so it will be released on streaming platforms worldwide, and therefore in France, on December 26. That is, 45 days after the film’s release in American theaters.
What is the media timeline?
Already discussed in January 2022, the media chronology aims to protect the various players in audiovisual production in France. Thus, when a film is released, theaters have an exclusivity period of 4 months, reducing to 3 months if the film registers less than 100,000 admissions in 4 weeks.
At the end of this window, the video on demand act (VOD) and physical edition (DVD and Blu-ray) opens. Canal+ and OCS can broadcast a film after 6 months for a significant investment in the French film economy, Netflix after 15 months, while Prime Video and Disney+ platforms can only broadcast films after 17 months.
Christmas Disney in France is already running out of rooms
In June last year, the American giant announced that the animated film Avalon, a strange trip planned for Disney’s Christmas holiday, would not be released in French cinemas.
Disney France President Helene Etzi specified in the columns echoes that the removal of Avalonia from the theatrical release schedule was “A result of the chronology of the media spread in FranceThe latter added that he was appreciated by the studio.Unfair, restrictive and inappropriate to audience expectations“.
Operation in chaos
On September 20, during Congress of DeauvilleRichard Patrie, president of the FNCF, expressed concern: “We must urgently unite so that French audiences are not deprived of certain films and cinemas are not victims of a situation where our room for maneuver is very limited..”
The National Center for Cinema and Moving Image (CNC) invited the audiovisual sector last Tuesday, October 4, for a meeting on the media timeline. Although the discussion laid the foundation for a constructive dialogue, no decision was reached.
The next meeting should be held at the end of November, after the still theoretical release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in theaters. Disney has yet to make a decision.
Source: allocine
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
