Dear Gossips, 

Tonight’s the night, you ready? 

Beyoncé’s BLACK IS KING premieres on Disney+ tonight at 3am ET/12am PT and a new trailer dropped yesterday to get people primed for her latest masterpiece: 

 

For many people then, we’re in for an all-nighter. Where possible, naps will be scheduled at some point. I’m on East Coast time so my nap is happening after dinner, ideally I’ll wake around 2am, do some work, my friend will come over, and we’ll be in position to hit play exactly at the Beyoncé hour. This is also what happened for Coachella and for Homecoming and if we learned anything from those two previous events, millions of other people will be flooding the timeline with reaction and commentary and some of us can’t afford to stay offline and off social media on Friday when Beyoncé will be taking over. 

Speaking of takeovers though, no doubt Beyoncé, as she does with all her work, she will be giving the audience a lot of think about. One thing to think about: how BLACK IS KING is a further expansion of her power and influence, especially since the creative jump-off is The Lion King, a “billion-dollar IP” that belongs to Disney. 

Few corporations are as proprietary about their IP as Disney – but then again, there’s only one Beyoncé, and few stars can actually benefit Disney as much as or perhaps more than Disney can benefit them. As Variety notes in an article posted yesterday called “What Beyoncé’s BLACK IS KING Means For Disney+”:

 

“The film will be the most direct confrontation of a timely societal discussion around racism that Disney Plus has seen in its young life, especially for a corporate owner that has only recently taken steps to rectify transgressions like insensitive theme park rides (Splash Mountain at Disneyland, based on the problematic animated film “Song of the South”) and warn viewers of “outdated cultural depictions” in content from its streaming library.”

BLACK IS KING is produced by Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé’s production company, and if I had to guess, I’m thinking she made it happen with minimal interference from the Mouse. Can you imagine some production executive sending her notes?! I mean, of course, someone over there would have screened it – it’s not like it’ll go straight to streaming without some kind of signoff – but I can’t imagine that the version they screened and the version that Beyoncé ultimately decided on is that much different. 

Like I said, there aren’t very many stars who can operate with that kind of autonomy, especially in partnership with Disney. 

This, too, will be part of the ongoing study of Beyoncé and how she always, always, always shows her work. 

Yours in gossip,

Lainey