Disney’s Bob Iger says ‘Artemis Fowl’ may not be the only theatrical title to go straight to Disney+.
The executive chairman of The Walt Disney Company has hinted that other movies could follow in the footsteps of the science fantasy adventure film and go straight to streaming, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
He told Barrons.com: "In terms of movies going ahead after ‘Artemis’, there may be a few more that we end up putting directly onto Disney+, but for the most part a lot of the big tentpole Disney films, we’ll simply wait for slots. In some cases we’ve announced new ones already, but later on in the calendar.
"In some cases we’ve moved things onto Disney+ faster than we would have. ‘Frozen 2’ was one of them, but ‘Onward’ would be the biggest example. It was in theatres when this happened. We moved to a pay-per-view period for a couple of weeks where people could buy it and own it. And then we ended up putting it on Disney+."
However, he insisted that the studio will wait for theatrical releases for its huge blockbusters, such as ‘Mulan’ or ‘Black Widow’.
Meanwhile, Disney recently revealed it has postponed three of its upcoming film releases in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The company confirmed that ‘Mulan’, ‘The New Mutants’ and ‘Antlers’ have been pushed back out of "an abundance of caution".
Disney said in a statement: "As you know this has been a rapidly evolving situation and we wanted to make you aware that we are postponing the releases of ‘Mulan’, ‘The New Mutants’ and ‘Antlers’ out of an abundance of caution.
"We truly believe in the moviegoing experience, and we are looking at new potential 2020 release dates to be announced at a later date."
‘Mulan’ had been due for release on March 27, while ‘The New Mutants’ and ‘Antlers’ were scheduled for April 3 and April 17 respectively.
Disney’s Bob Iger talks Disney releases
