“Thor: Love and Thunder” could be coming to Disney Plus in less than a month

Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters July 8. But average critic reviews (“frustratingly shallow” is how our own reviewer described it) may mean you’ll hold out until the movie leaves theaters and moves to Disney Plus.

Disney’s streaming strategy for its theatrical releases is all over the place. Encanto spent a month in theaters before streaming. For a miracle‘c The Eternals, there were two. West Side Story — Steven Spielberg’s reimagining of the musical — hit Disney Plus about three months after it was released exclusively in theaters.

For now, it’s a guessing game how long it will take for Thor to hit Disney Plus — but Lightyear’s timing has given a big clue.

When is the release date of Thor: Love and Thunder on Disney Plus?

Disney has not confirmed a streaming release date Thor: Love and Thunder more. But Disney revealed Lightyear’s streaming date on Tuesday, and with that, we can bet that Thor will begin streaming on August 24th on Disney Plus.

During months of pandemic lockdowns, Disney allowed many movies to reach Disney Plus to be streamed the same day they were released in theaters. But for more than a year, Disney has been giving its live-action theatrical releases long periods of theatrical exclusivity before making streaming an option. Unfortunately, Disney has yet to officially announce a standard length for these theatrical exclusives.

But it looks like the company has agreed to give its theatrical movies 47 days in theaters before streaming them on Disney Plus.

The last two Disney movies each spent 47 days in theaters before hitting Disney Plus: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness became available to stream 47 days after its wide theatrical release – that’s two weeks faster than The Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. And most recently, Disney announced on Tuesday that Lightyear, their first Pixar movie to hit theaters since early 2020, will begin streaming on Disney Plus on August 3rd — also 47 days after its theatrical release.

That is why August 24th is the expected date. That would mean Disney has Thor: Love and Thunder following the same 47-day timeline.

As Disney seems to embrace this 47-day window, it also approaches the norms of other major studios, which largely gravitate toward theatrical exclusivity of around 45 days. (However, there are exceptions for major blockbuster movie franchises this summer.) The good news is that this so-called “window” of time is shorter than it was when Disney first reintroduced theatrical exclusives last year.

Fortunately, unlike some other studios, Disney usually confirms the streaming date for its movies a few weeks in advance, so the official date should be set in early August.