Marvel has been suspiciously quiet about most of its post-Avengers: Endgame plans, but rumor has it that Black Widow has gotten a bump.
Never mind your Captain Marvel and your Avengers: Endgame; some of the latest rumors from the Marvel universe are about Black Widow, that long-gestating, over-promised, still-undelivered solo film for Scarlett Johansson to really shine as Natasha Romanoff.
But this time, we’re moving beyond dangling hints about casting or even real reports on a director. Today, we’re firmly in the realm of rumor, but that rumor, which comes from HN Entertainment, says that Black Widow is not only going to start production soon, it’s going to start so soon that a February start is within reach.
As HN concludes, this would make it a prime target for a 2020 release date; it predicts May 1, but there are other dates left open, including one in November and another in July. Way back when, I predicted July for Black Widow, but with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in an ongoing state of limbo, this production start might signal an attempt to move Widow up to take that prime May spot.
It’d also be giving a better chance to Widow in terms of box office. Although films like Black Panther have proved that you don’t need a summer release date to make all kinds of money, 2020 will be an off-year for Marvel in terms of not having a new Avengers movie on offer. Put together the fact that fans have been waiting for this movie for what will be a decade come next year with the summer spot, and you have a pretty good recipe for box office bank. (That’s right: Black Widow first appeared in 2010 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and she still hasn’t gotten a solo movie.)
Of course, it means that something else now has to move into 2020, assuming that Guardians does not make it to production this year. Considering that Chris Pratt had to recently promise — and we mean that literally — that it’d happen, that’s a pretty safe bet. Let’s say Black Widow and my other guess, Doctor Strange 2, are two of the three 2020 movies. What of Chloe Zhao’s The Eternals? There haven’t been many rumblings about that one since Zhao was announced as director, but it could very well fill in the last 2020 slot and prime Marvel for an even bigger 2021.
It’d also make for Marvel having a more diverse year in terms of releases than before, assuming The Eternals has a pretty diverse cast as The Hollywood Reporter speculates. That’d be two female directors in one year and one woman-led film with the potential for a second. It may not seem like much, but with the 4 percent challenge already a thing, it’s a big improvement.
Here’s hoping the rumors are true.