Black Widow Box Office Failure Blamed on Disney+ Release & Piracy by IMAX CEO Black Widow Box Office Failure Blamed on Disney+ Release & Piracy by IMAX CEO IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond was blunt in discussing how Disney's release strategy with Black Widow impacted its box office performance. It is no secret at this point that Marvel's Black Widow has not performed quite as well as expected at the box office. While it did boast a pandemic-record $80 million opening weekend, the movie has since plummeted and has earned far less than the vast majority of other Marvel Cinematic Universe movies Now, IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond has commented on the matter, squarely blaming the studio's release strategy, which involved a streaming release on Disney+ as well.