It's been three months since Spider-Man: No Way Home arrived in theaters and consequently broke box-office records while also becoming an instant audience-favorite. Ever since then, fans have been eagerly anticipating the home-media release of Spidey's third MCU-set adventure so they can comb through every second of it for Easter eggs and nods. Well, those anticipating No Way Home's digital arrival won't have to wait quite as long as they initially thought.
The film was originally slated to be released digitally on March 22 and physically on April 12, but it's now been revealed that No Way Home will be hitting digital platforms (such as Vudu, iTunes and Google Play) on March 15 following an update to listings on digital platforms. So far, the physical release date appears to be the same as before.
Unfortunately, this move comes under distressing circumstances for Sony and Marvel Studios. Earlier this week, a Blu-ray-quality copy of the film made its way onto a pirate site. The leak appears to be what prompted Sony to move the film's release date up. According to TorrentFreak (via CBR.com), P2P site group EVO — a site that has pirated other high-profile productions — took responsibility for the leak. As CBR further reported, there are supposed Blu-ray copies of the movie available for sale on eBay.
This is another instance of No Way Home being affected by online leaks, which plagued the film throughout the two years leading up to its release. While many were treated as rumors at the time, most turned out to be true.
Talking to Fandango last year, longtime Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal was asked if the threequel had been the most challenging movie to keep secret, to which she replied: "Boy, you could probably answer that question. You know. Yes, we've been [...] We don't want to spoil things for [people.] That's one of the problems with movies is that people know everything before they walk into the theater. So, we've been trying to make sure people get the full theatrical experience when they go to the movie. And yeah, you try to never confirm anything in any movie, but this one is a big one."
No Way Home will be arriving digitally on March 15, 2022. Its 4K, Blu-ray and DVD release will follow on April 12, 2022.
What do you think about the movie's digital release being moved up? Let us know in the comments.