re: Black Widow finally comes out this week **SPOILERS**

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Disney and Marvel’s superhero adventure “Black Widow” captured a massive $80 million in its first weekend, crushing the benchmark for the biggest box office debut since the pandemic.

The film, starring Scarlett Johansson, is the first from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to open simultaneously in movie theaters and on Disney Plus, where subscribers can rent “Black Widow” for an extra $30. Disney reported that “Black Widow” generated more than $60 million “in Disney Plus Premier Access consumer spend globally,” marking the rare occasion in which a studio disclosed the profits made from streaming.

Directed by Cate Shortland, “Black Widow” collected an additional $78 million from 46 international territories, boosting its global box office haul to an impressive $158 million. Combined with Disney Plus numbers, the final weekend figure sits at $215 million. Curbing overall ticket sales, however, is the fact that “Black Widow” still doesn’t have a release date in China, which is an all-important moviegoing market for the Marvel franchise.

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“Black Widow” marks a massive win for movie theaters, which have been struggling to recover from the mass closures and capacity restrictions that decimated their business during the pandemic. It’s also notable because it displays that movies can bring in solid box office receipts despite being available on streaming services at the same time. However, David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, notes that Marvel movies are in a league of its own at the box office. Not every new release has the built-in fanbase needed to replicate those results. In total, the 24 films that populate the commercially unrivaled Marvel Cinematic Universe have brought in $22 billion theatrically since 2008.

“Certainly the figure would be higher if every theater were open, if there were zero concern with COVID, and if there weren’t a streaming option,” Franchise Entertainment Research's David A. Gross tells Variety. “For now, those impediments make Black Widow’s opening all the more impressive.”

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For the first time since the onset of COVID-19, the domestic box office has surpassed $100 million in total revenues. The overall weekend tally currently stands at $117 million, according to Comscore. That’s encouraging to box office experts because it comes at a time when 19% of North American movie theaters remain shuttered. After a delayed start to summer, movie theaters will host several buzzy titles in the next few months, including “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller “Old” and the “G.I. Joe” origin story “Snake Eyes” with Henry Golding.

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