Why ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Could Hit Disney Plus Wednesday

    Chris Hemsworth in Thor: Love and Thunder.
    Jasin Boland/Marvel
    

    Thor: Love and Thunder hit theaters July 8. But with?middling reviews (“disappointingly shallow” was the?CNET reviewer’s reaction), you may be holding out until the film moves onto Disney Plus.?
    Disney’s streaming strategy for its theatrical releases has been all over the map. Encanto?spent a month in theaters before streaming. For Marvel’s Eternals, it was two months. West Side Story — the Steven Spielberg reimagining of the musical — hit Disney Plus about three months after it played exclusively in cinemas.?
    Disney still hasn’t confirmed a Disney Plus release date for Thor, but a pattern has emerged with other recent releases that may make it simple to predict. ?
    When is Thor: Love and Thunder’s Disney Plus release date?

    Disney hasn’t confirmed a streaming release date for?Thor: Love and Thunder. While there’s still reason for caution, the timing of Disney’s last two theatrical releases suggests Thor may begin streaming Wednesday on Disney Plus.?
    During the pandemic lockdown, Disney let many movies stream on Disney Plus the same day they were released in cinemas. But for more than a year, Disney has been giving its live-action theatrical releases long stints of exclusivity in theaters before making streaming an option.?
    

    Unfortunately, Disney’s hasn’t officially declared a standard length for these theatrical exclusives yet, but the company appears to be settling on giving its theatrical films 47 days in theaters before streaming them on Disney Plus.
    Disney’s last two films both spent 47 days in theaters before hitting Disney Plus:?Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?became available to stream 47 days after its wide release in theaters — that’s two weeks quicker than Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. And most recently, Pixar’s Lightyear started streaming on Disney Plus on Aug. 3 — also 47 days after its theatrical release.?
    That’s why Wednesday is the best bet to expect Thor: Love and Thunder, since it would follow the same 47-day timeline.?
    With Disney appearing to adopt this 47-day window, it’s also moved closer to the norms of other major studios, which have largely gravitated to theatrical exclusivity lasting about 45 days. (There are, however, ?exceptions for big franchise-film blockbusters?this summer.) The good news is that this so-called “window” of time is shorter than it was when Disney first reintroduced theatrical exclusives last year.?
    But the biggest red flag Wednesday as the date: Typically, Disney announces streaming release dates with a couple weeks notice. So far, it has continued to stay mum about the latest Thor, even with the likely date is now less than a week away.?