Imax Boss Says “Cannibalization” Hurt ‘Black Widow’, Thinks Disney Will Ultimately Return To Theatrical Window Releases

deadline.com:

Despite Disney’s experimentation with releasing movies like Black Widow and Jungle Cruise day-and-date in theaters and in the home on the PVOD tier of their streaming service Disney+ Premier, Imax CEO Rich Gelfond doesn’t believe the model will be the new normal moving forward.“Every studio has seen the same data that Disney has seen.

What Disney did is experiment during the pandemic, which is what they said they were going to do,” remarked the CEO during the large format exhibitor’s 2Q earnings call today.“I remember (CEO) Bob Chapek saying at one of their investor days that when times are normal, he thinks theatrical is important, exclusivity is important, and I think when he looks at his data and the pandemic is in the rear view mirror