Disney Executives Skipping CinemaCon in Las Vegas

CinemaCon is the largest cinema trade show in the world. The event gathers theaters from major and independent chains, as well as major film studios as they preview what they have to offer for the theatergoing experience. Disney of course is one of the big attendees with a presentation that previews their upcoming slate from Disney animation, Disney Studios, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios. However, things are different this year.

Walt Disney executives have decided to skip this years event, which takes place next month. The company is citing the recent surge in COVID-19 Delta Variant as their main concern. Disney will screen one of its upcoming movies instead of holding a staged presentation, likely Disney Animation Studios’ Encanto.

Read: ‘Jungle Cruise’ Sequel Being Discussed at Disney

Strangely enough, the announcement comes a week after the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) publicly scolded the studio for their day-and-date release of Black Widow, which is struggling at the box office due to piracy. It is unknown if this had anything to do with Disney’s decision to skip the event. For a more in-depth report, check out Sarah Whitten’s report over at CNBC.

Black Widow is currently looking at a third weekend of $10.86 million -58%, which is among the steepest third weekend declines for a Disney MCU movie, alongside Thor: Ragnarok (-62%), Thor: Dark World (-61%), and Doctor Strange (-59%). The film is currently sitting at $264.4 million worldwide, and is expected to cross $300 million as the weekend ends. As for Disney+ the last official numbers we heard was $60 million in its Premier Access debut.

Just a guess here, but I believe another reason for the skip is that Disney is planning another big investors day meeting for the public. Last year’s Investor Day Meeting was a huge hit all over social media, as the three hour event let the world know all the new projects in development throughout the company. This success might have sparked some interest for the company to repeat it later this year. Also, Disney’s D23 Expo returns next September after a hiatus as the pandemic forced the event to skip its 2021 event a full year to 2022.