Disney Considered A Streaming-Only Release For Cruella

[Animous]

Disney considered sending Cruella exclusively to streaming. The Emma Stone-led Cruella is a prequel of the classic Disney villain for 101 Dalmations and is just one in a large wave of Disney live-action re-imaginings of their classic animated films. Cruella was filmed in 2019 and was originally intended for release in December 2020, but was then moved to May 28, 2021, to land on the Memorial Day weekend and would also be released on Disney+ Premier Access the same day.

The film, alongside A Quiet Place: Part II, which was released the same weekend, was seen as the kickoff to the summer movie season after the COVID-19 pandemic caused theaters to be closed in 2020. Cruella opened to number 2 in its opening weekend but managed to stay a consistent money earner in theaters, currently having grossed $82 million at the domestic box-office and a worldwide total of $226.1 million. It has become one of the top movies of the summer even outperforming films like The Suicide Squad, Space Jam: A New Legacy and In The Heights. While Disney has yet to release just how much Cruella brought in from Disney+, the studio was impressed enough to greenlight a sequel with Emma Stone set to reprise her role.

RELATED: Why Disney Started Making So Many Live-Action Remakes

However, Disney almost missed out on one of its top moneymakers at the box office this year. According to THR, during the postproduction process on Cruella during the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney considered only releasing the film on Disney+, but the move would have required them to make buyout payments to various individuals involved with the film. Emma Stone and director Craig Gillespie pushed back and said that a theatrical release was a matter of integrity, and Disney decided to do the hybrid release pattern.

Disney's wanting to release Cruella on Disney+ instead of theaters follows a similar trend to their live-action Disney remakes. 2019 saw Disney release four movies in theaters; Dumbo, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. Aladdin and The Lion King both are remakes of animated films from the Disney Renaissance and were massive hits, similar to 2017's Beauty and the Beast. Dumbo, on the other hand, underperformed at the box office. While the original Maleficent was a hit, the second underperformed. Disney also released a remake of Lady and the Tramp exclusively on Disney+. Dumbo, Sleeping Beauty, and Lady and the Tramp originate from the Golden Age of Walt Disney animation.

At the D23 Investor meeting in December 2020, it was confirmed that Robert Zemeckis' Pinocchio and David Lowery's Peter Pan and Wendy would be released exclusively on Disney+ while The Little Mermaid was still set for a theatrical release. It appears Disney is seeing the remakes based on older Disney films to be riskier in a theatrical market, while the remakes of the Disney Renaissance films are more likely to generate big numbers at the box office. Cruella certainly has ties to a classic Disney film, so it makes a certain amount of sense why they would want it for streaming. The risk of releasing Cruella in theaters paid off for Disney, as it became a surprise hit and generated a new franchise for them. However, it remains to be seen if the sequel to Cruella will capitalize off the goodwill of the first film, or if like other sequels to Disney live-action remakes like Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Alice Through the Looking Glass, audiences were only interested in the first film.

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