The Marvels has officially set its streaming release date for Disney+. Meanwhile, viewers will be pleased to learn it will be available to stream in time for Valentine’s Day.
The Marvels serves as a direct sequel to the 2019 film Captain Marvel and the 2022 series Ms. Marvel. It sees Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) team up when they find their powers entangled. In addition to working together and navigating their entanglement, the trio faces the threat of Kree revolutionary Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton).
While The Marvels was the kind of crossover event and female-led superhero film that the MCU needed, it struggled at the box office upon its release. With superhero and franchise fatigue setting in, as well as Marvel’s decision to make a crossover film with relatively new characters, The Marvels suffered one of the lowest box office opening weekends of any MCU film. The box office results did not adequately reflect the film’s quality, considering it received stellar reviews from audiences and moderately positive reviews from critics. Unfortunately, the film had too many things working against it with Marvel’s decisions and the Hollywood strikes. Hence, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the film will see a resurgence and get the love it deserves when it arrives on streaming.
When to expect The Marvels on Disney+
Marvel Entertainment has announced the official streaming release date for The Marvels. It is set to arrive on Disney+ on February 7, making it the perfect choice for an at-home Valentine’s Day movie date.
This release date is in line with the length of time it took the MCU’s other recent releases to arrive on Disney+. When Disney+ first started taking off, it experimented with both exclusive streaming releases and day-and-date releases (simultaneously available in theaters and at home). Once the COVID-19 pandemic was no longer at its height, the streamer started giving Disney movies exclusive theatrical runs for at least 45 days before bringing them to Disney+.
More recently, Disney+ has lengthened the exclusive theatrical window for Marvel movies. It took over 80 days for all three of Marvel’s most recent films to arrive on the platform. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever took 82 days to arrive. Meanwhile, both Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 took 89 days to arrive on Disney+. Interestingly, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was considered a box office disappointment, but that didn’t affect how long it took for the film to hit Disney+ compared to the far more successful Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. With Bob Iger claiming Disney+’s plethora of content is responsible for the studio’s recent box office flops, it’s not surprising that Marvel’s latest films might experience more of a gap before streaming.
The 89-day exclusive theatrical window seems to be the sweet spot for MCU films, as this is also precisely how long The Marvels waited for its streaming arrival.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
