The long-awaited “Black Panther” sequel, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” is finally here. With an epic story involving an undersea kingdom, a new Black Panther, and new threats to Wakanda (plus paying tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman and his portrayal of T’Challa) it’s the kind of movie that seems made for the big-screen experience. The latest entry in Marvel’s Phase 4 will debut on the big screen, but don’t worry — it won’t be all that long before you can stream it at home, too.
Like all Marvel movies, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” will eventually find a streaming home on Disney+, the exclusive streaming platform for Marvel’s parent company, Disney. For a handful of movies at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney+ was the original and only release venue, but that’s obviously changed since movie theaters have re-opened and moved towards normalcy. Now, Marvel movies seem to take a couple of months to make the transition from theaters to streaming, but the window is definitely much shorter than it used to be when we had to wait months and months for movies to arrive on physical home media.
When Will “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Be Available to Stream On Disney+?
While no official announcement has been made about the streaming release of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” we can look at a few of the most recent Marvel theatrical releases to get an idea. The most recent, “Thor: Love and Thunder,” came to Disney+ exactly two months after its theatrical release. Before that, “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness” only had 47 days — not quite two months — between its theatrical debut and its arrival on Disney+.
Going by those guidelines, we can probably expect “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” to arrive on Disney+ around the end of the year. The holiday season might affect the release date, although it’s not clear if it would speed up or slow down the streaming release. Christmas is 44 days after the movie’s theatrical release, so it’s possible that Disney might want to hold off a little longer to get some of the holiday crowds to see it in theaters, but it’s just as likely that they’d release it to Disney+ a little early as a “Christmas present” to subscribers. Only time will tell — but for a few weeks, at least, the only way to see “Wakanda Forever” will be at your favorite in-person theater!