This we did not expect. After seeing how the union of movie theater owners in the United States protested the bad strategy of Disney releasing simultaneously Black Widow In theaters and on its Disney+ service, it seems that Scarlett Johansson herself has joined the protest, who has allegedly filed a lawsuit against Disney for violating certain contract agreements.
The black widow gets angry
It seems that the Simultaneous release of Black Widow It has brought collateral damage of all kinds. To the movie theaters affected by the collection, we must add that the main actress herself seems not to be happy with the decision to bring the film directly to Disney+, since according to the lawsuit she has filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court, Disney would have violated one of the rules stipulated in the contract.
According to the lawsuit, "Disney intentionally introduced a breach of Marvel's agreement, without justification, to prevent Ms. Johansson from realizing the full benefit of her deal with Marvel." The actress's lawyer assures that regardless of what the company intends, she "has an obligation to honor her contracts."
Why sue now?
That Black Widow was going to be released simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+ through Premium Access was something we already knew for a long time, so the gesture of denouncing the company weeks after the premiere is quite obvious. It is very possible that, after seeing the collection, Johansson has been ripped off by the situation, and it is that, of the 218 million dollars raised in the first weekend of the premiere, only 60 million came from Disney +.
Is Disney keeping all the money from Disney+? It is very possible. Most likely, the contract talks about sharing profits from movie theaters, so Disney takes all the money raised from its streaming service clean of dust and straw.
Scarlett's salary, depending on the collection of theaters, would have been limited by the appearance of the premiere on Disney + (WSJ speaks of 50 million losses), which is why the actress is currently very upset to see how the money you expected to receive is much less than what was agreed.
Disney feels insulted
Disney, through a spokesperson, has been surprised and disappointed, assuring that the lawsuit has no merit and that it is "especially sad and distressing due to its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic." . “Disney has fully honored Ms. Johansson's contract, and furthermore, the release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premium Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation beyond the $20 million she has received to date. date".
The most interesting thing is that the simultaneous release model is actually a measure that proposes new proposals and options to the end user, which is fine, but apparently it is leaving a legal vacuum that puts actors and producers in a bad light, who see the money where always, in movie theaters. We'll see how this all ends.