Six Weeks

I see "Lightyear" has made the jump from the cinema to Disney+, which is good news for us - we weren't going to make it to the cinema to see it, and now don't have to wait. But that means that the gap is all of six weeks. "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" was seven weeks between the two. "Thor: Love and Thunder" released in cinemas on the 23rd of June, which means that it has been out six weeks as of now - there's no indication of when it will come to Disney+, but given the above it would seem to be fairly soon.

And if that's the case, suddenly there is absolutely no point in going to the cinema to see anything from the Disney/Pixar/Marvel/Lucasfilm/20th Century stable - since we're going to get it for no extra cost just a few weeks later, it's not worth the expense.

Which, of course, bodes really badly for the cinema industry as a whole, because that stable represents a huge chunk of the 'big' films, and the other streaming services will be pushing for similarly quick transitions for other films. (I note that "Jurassic World: Dominion" is already available for home rental, and am presuming it will be on one of the services soon.)

There's no great point or conclusion here; I'm just noting how extreme things have become.

What it does mean, ultimately, is that the cinema is going to be much less about going to see the new big releases, and much more about the experience of going to the cinema - which to a very large extent means either taking the kids out for a treat, or taking ourselves out in the absence of the kids.