Black Widow: Hilarious Tie-In Commercials Put NBA’s Lamelo & Lonzo Ball In the Movie
After a 14-month delay, Scarlett Johansson’s solo film Black Widow will finally release in theaters and on Disney+’s Premier Access next month. The film revamped its marketing back in April of this year after posting the “Final Trailer” back in March 2020.
After redirecting the MCU ship, Marvel CCO Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios will get to debut their first theatrical project since July 2019. Three MCU Disney+ shows have released in the meantime.
WandaVision, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and Loki have kept the MCU afloat, but now it’s time to get back to major motion pictures. In part to raise awareness for the film just a few weeks out of its release, Marvel has partnered with a familiar sports league once again.
THE BALL BROS. IN BLACK WIDOW
NBA Rookie of the Year LaMelo Ball and his brother Lonzo are featured in two of the latest Black Widow advertisements that also promote the ongoing NBA playoffs.
The first is an edited video that puts the Ball brothers at the dinner table with Natasha Romanoff and her family.
LaMelo and Lonzo are no strangers to family dinners.
But this one … was a little different.
@theblackwidow #ad @ZO2_ @MELOD1P pic.twitter.com/23cKPelC8w— ESPN (@espn) June 20, 2021
The second is Lonzo driving and LaMelo in the passenger seat as Black Widow drives by in the middle of a high-speed chase.
LaMelo and Lonzo Ball in the #BlackWidow movie 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/oarayGHYLQ
— George Hathaway (@hathawaygeorge9) June 20, 2021
The Disney-owned sports network ESPN presented the ad, indicating an effort to market the movie in front of a different demographic.
Latest Black Widow News
ANOTHER NBA & MARVEL PARTNERSHIP
Back in May, ESPN hosted Marvel’s Arena of Heroes a “Marvel-inspired alternate presentation” NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans. The comic book theme game brandished floating names over the players’ heads, steam coming off of three-point shots, and explosion animations when they went in.
Lonzo Ball was also featured in the game, so he is quickly becoming an NBA/Marvel crossover veteran. The broadcast didn’t only give fans a new look at what an NBA game could look like, but also a Special Look at Loki played on the network at halftime.
Disney using all of its available resources to promote each of its brands is good business. The Arena of Heroes televised event gave film fans a reason to tune into the game when they usually wouldn’t, and the Ball brothers interacting with Black Widow and Red Guardian may help Marvel put more seats in the theater come July 9.
The Ball family has been known for their entrepreneurial spirit over the years. Their father LaVar started the Big Baller Brand in 2016 when his eldest son Lonzo was gearing up to be drafted into the NBA.
LaMelo may have only been kidding when he said families are “a pain in the a–” during the commercial. Learn more about Black Widow’s family when they reunite in theaters and on Disney+ July 9.
LaMelo Ball
_(cropped).jpg) Ball with the Illawarra Hawks in 2019
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| No. 2 – Charlotte Hornets | |
|---|---|
| Position | Point guard |
| League | NBA |
| Personal information | |
| Born | August 22, 2001 Anaheim, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) |
| Listed weight | 180 lb (82 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school |
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| NBA draft | 2020 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3rd overall |
| Selected by the Charlotte Hornets | |
| Playing career | 2018–present |
| Career history | |
| 2018 | Prienai |
| 2018 | Los Angeles Ballers |
| 2019–2020 | Illawarra Hawks |
| 2020–present | Charlotte Hornets |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Stats  |
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| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
LaMelo LaFrance Ball (born August 22, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected by the Hornets with the third overall pick of the 2020 NBA draft.
Ball began high school at Chino Hills High School in Chino Hills, California, where he won a state championship and achieved national success as a freshman with his older brothers Lonzo and LiAngelo. Before his junior season, a coaching dispute prompted him to leave Chino Hills and sign with Lithuanian professional team Prienai. In 2018, he played in the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), a league created by his father, before returning to high school as a senior with SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio. A former UCLA commit, he was a five-star recruit but chose to forgo college basketball amid eligibility concerns and play in Australia for the Illawarra Hawks of the National Basketball League (NBL) in 2019, winning NBL Rookie of the Year.
Ball and his brothers have attracted national attention since playing together in high school. His father, LaVar, also grew into a media personality in 2017. Ball has a signature shoe by his father’s company, Big Baller Brand, and a role on his family’s Facebook Watch reality show Ball in the Family.
Lonzo Ball
.jpg) Ball with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2020
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| No. 2 – New Orleans Pelicans | |
|---|---|
| Position | Point guard |
| League | NBA |
| Personal information | |
| Born | October 27, 1997 Anaheim, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) |
| Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Chino Hills (Chino Hills, California) |
| College | UCLA (2016–2017) |
| NBA draft | 2017 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2nd overall |
| Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers | |
| Playing career | 2017–present |
| Career history | |
| 2017–2019 | Los Angeles Lakers |
| 2019–present | New Orleans Pelicans |
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
|
| Stats |
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| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Lonzo Anderson Ball (born October 27, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A point guard, he played college basketball for one season with the UCLA Bruins, earning consensus first-team All-American honors before the Los Angeles Lakers selected him with the second overall pick of the 2017 NBA draft. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2018.
As a high school senior at Chino Hills High School in 2016, Ball was awarded multiple national high school player of the year honors, and led his team, alongside his brothers LiAngelo and LaMelo, who are both current NBA guards, to an undefeated record, as well as a national championship. As a college freshman in 2016–17, he led the nation in assists and broke the UCLA record for the most assists in a season. Ball also won the Wayman Tisdale Award as the top freshman in the nation. As an NBA rookie with the Lakers, his playing time was limited by shoulder and knee injuries, and he was sidelined for much of his second season after an ankle injury. He was traded at the end of the season to the Pelicans in a trade package for Anthony Davis.
Black Widow (2021 film)
| Black Widow | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Release poster
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| Directed by | Cate Shortland |
| Produced by | Kevin Feige |
| Screenplay by | Eric Pearson |
| Story by | |
| Based on | |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Lorne Balfe |
| Cinematography | Gabriel Beristain |
| Edited by |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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133 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $200 million+[2] |
Black Widow is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the 24th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Cate Shortland from a screenplay by Eric Pearson, and stars Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow alongside Florence Pugh, David Harbour, O-T Fagbenle, William Hurt, Ray Winstone, and Rachel Weisz. Set after Captain America: Civil War (2016), the film sees Romanoff on the run and forced to confront her past.
Development of a Black Widow film began in April 2004 by Lionsgate, with David Hayter attached to write and direct. The project did not move forward and the character’s film rights reverted to Marvel Studios by June 2006. Johansson was cast in the role for several MCU films beginning with Iron Man 2 (2010), and began discussing a solo film with Marvel. Work began in late 2017, with Shortland hired in 2018. Jac Schaeffer and Ned Benson contributed to the script before Pearson was hired. Filming took place from May to October 2019 in Norway, Budapest, Morocco, Pinewood Studios in England, and in Atlanta and Macon, Georgia.
Black Widow is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 9, 2021, simultaneously in theaters and through Disney+ with Premier Access. It will be the first film in Phase Four of the MCU, and was delayed three times from an original May 2020 release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
