Scarlett Johansson sues Disney over streaming release of "Black Widow"

Wow. I can't believe this wasn't discussed beforehand! Go Scarlett!!

Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney over 'Black Widow' Disney+ release - CNN


"To maximize these receipts, and thereby protect her financial interests, Ms. Johansson extracted a promise from Marvel that the release of the picture would be a 'theatrical release,'" the suit claimed. "As Ms. Johansson, Disney, Marvel, and most everyone else in Hollywood knows, a 'theatrical release' is a release that is exclusive to movie theatres. Disney was well aware of this promise, but nonetheless directed Marvel to violate its pledge and instead release the picture on the Disney+ streaming service the very same day it was released in movie theatres."

 

its being discussed in the black widow thread .....

interesting news for sure.

 

Sucks it has come to this--but this seems to hint that Disney was done with her (as her character won't be around anymore) or she was done with them. I doubt they'll be working together again after this.

Either way, Disney probably could have handled this privately with her and kept the bad press out of the news. Crummy way to treat one of your headlining stars of the last 10 or so years.

 

Reading between the lines, SJ was probably trying to renegotiate the contract but not getting the deal she wanted, so she told her attorneys to go into wartime mode.

 

Perhaps. But Disney should have held up their end of the contract if it had a clause that they wouldn't release the film on streaming day and date of the theatrical, or for a set amount of time.

Granted that the pandemic / lockdown situation was an unprecedented one, but they sat on the movie for a full year, then released it when things were generally opened up around the country. They didn't have to release it on streaming as well at the same time. They did it to feather their own nest and appease shareholders.

 

I think she is behaving foolish, you don't bite the hand that feeds you.

She got paid big time for doing the movie even if they threw it in a closet.
Maybe it's a trick to get folks to talk about the movie.

 

Yep, and like I said in the other thread, they should have renegotiated the contract to both parties' satisfaction. They had a year to do it by delaying the release. Now it's too late.

 

Pretty sure she wasn’t coming back for more after this as

Spoiler

her character died back in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

 

From what I can tell, she was promised a percentage of the gross from theatrical ticket sales. By releasing it on home video at the same time, they basically destroyed the theatrical market. If this film had been allowed to play exclusively in theaters, she would have made a lot more money. There's no two ways around that.

The studios are trying to kill the theatrical market to promote their streaming products, trying to get 100% of the pie.

I sincerely hope that she prevails. Usually, when someone sues the studio, even if they win, the studio will offer a settlement, specifically to keep their incredibly corrupt bookkeeping secret.

The best example is Art Buchwald versus Paramount, where he wrote the story for Coming To America, and then got cheated out of payment. He took them to court, won, and then they immediately offered to settle, to make sure that nobody could get a look at their books.

You see, Coming To America had somehow managed to sell $288 million worth of tickets, on a budget of $10 million, and somehow, using "Hollywood Studio Math," hadn't yet shown a profit.

I sincerely hope that Ms. Johansson sues them, wins, and absolutely refuses to settle, exposing their corrupt accounting shenanigans, and getting it into evidence so everybody else can start suing them.

It'll probably kill her mainstream Hollywood career, but I think she'd be perfectly comfortable going back to Indy films like Lost In Translation.

 

Studios are always looking to screw people out of their contractural earnings so I hope she wins this battle.

 

Wise comments, as usual.

 

I’m all for the little guy/ gal.

 

Thank you.

 

I saw that she is losing about $50 million because of Black Widow being released on Disney+.

 

Streaming. Her contract was for theatre sales, bums on seats.

End of the day, a contract is a contract.

 

She has a contract with them, and they thought they could just arbitrarily change it, counting on their massive size to just plain get away with it.

Disney is apparently trying to paint her as some sort of greedy Hollywood star who should be happy with the $20 million that she's already received. From Yahoo News:

In a statement, Disney said there was "no merit whatsoever to this filing."

"The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic," the company continued. "Disney has fully complied with Ms. Johansson's contract and furthermore, the release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20 million she has received to date."​

 

Yeah! Disney are the ones that are raking it in by not paying her money that’s she owed regardless of global epidemic.

 

Well as the IRS instructed me many years ago when I attempted to freelance as a graphic artist that to figure profit/loss I first had to determine salaries and of course as a sole proprietor I was to first pay my self...How much? They didn't say. If I had a huge operating capital bank account from a fat business loan the sky would've been the limit thus showing no profit to pay taxes on.

Maybe that's the kind of Hollywood Studio Math they're using.

Do you know how much Johansson is getting from Disney streaming?

 

One could counter argue that by releasing day and date on streaming and killing the box office for Cinema chains etc. that have been hugely hit by the impact of the pandemic it's Disney showing the callous disregard for the effects of COVID. I have no sympathy for Disney in this, in what I see as a deeply cynical move to test the day and date release strategy they've been pushing towards for years.

You're completely right, there's a contract there that should be honoured - it's not like Disney is a struggling studio, or like they won't profit from Black Widow. But they are causing cinema chains on thin margins further financial hardship on what was supposed to be a tentpole release.

 

Yeah, getting very messy now...

Scarlett Johansson Sues Disney Over ‘Black Widow’ Release In Theaters, Disney+ – Deadline

Who knew that Scarlet Johansson had already received $20 million dollars for being in the movie? And that's without a massive worldwide theatrical release...

 

yeah, me too. I hope she wins cause I think Disney is a (insert bad word here) company, but it’s all in the (far off) arena of multi million dollar deals as far as I’m concerned.

Scarlett and me don’t have the same problems.

 

Streaming is the death knell of not just the cinema ..but for physical media.
Sucks!!!!

 

WHO knew ?
Thought it was norm for established stars to get mega bucks .. hello Robert Downey jr.

 

I hope they can coexist, at least for a while.

 

I at least hoped I could see the movie in the theatre at least ... or no cinema, blu ray disc version. In a nutshell if I don’t stream I dont get to see anymore new stuff tv series /films.