On Friday 9, Disney put out a short press release on the encouraging Black Widow audience figures. Now we’ve had the weekend and the picture is very much more impressive

You can read the first Disney press release (from Friday) here; in a nutshell:

Domestically, the long-awaited film has set a Thursday night preview record for the year and for any film since the start of the pandemic with $13.2 million. It opens in over 4,100 theaters across the U.S. and Canada today

They also mention the Rotten Tomatoes figures (81% critics and 94% audience at time of the press release, now 80% and 92% respectively at the time of writing).

We’ve been waiting for Black Widow to arrive for some time, and we now have an extensive update from Disney reported via Deadline. This weekend the film has taken $80M at the domestic box office, $78M in international box office, and over $60M in Disney+ Premier Access consumer spend globally.

As the article states, this breakdown across cinema and streaming is rarer than we’d like, and while the streaming figure is US centred, it’s a decent number. The film apparently cost around $200 million to make, so has recouped nicely and is likely to do well for some time.

We will keep an eye on the Black Widow audience figures as they are announced, but it seems the Marvel / Disney juggernaut has hit a rich vein this year with everything from WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki as well.

For fans it’s a chance to enjoy a range of content and some welcome escapism. For industry watchers it’s a possible sign of the shape of things to come.