Scarlett Johansson, who plays Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has recently filed a lawsuit against Disney over her most recent outing as the super spy in this month’s “Black Widow,” Variety reports.
The lawsuit alleges that by releasing the film on Disney+ simultaneously with the theatrical release, “Disney intentionally induced Marvel’s breach of the agreement, without justification, in order to prevent Ms. Johansson from realizing the full benefit of her bargain with Marvel.”
Johansson reportedly took a partial back-end deal, in which her salary for the film was derived from the box office sales which, the lawsuit alleges, were undercut by the Disney+ sales.
After multiple delays in release due to the COVID-19 pandemic shuttering theaters nationwide, it was announced in March that “Black Widow” would be one of several films pushed through to the Disney+ streaming service as a Premiere Access title. Despite an $80 million opening in the US and Canada and $60 million garnered from Disney+ sales, the film still sits at $318 million worldwide. With $157 million total domestic take as of press time, this makes “Black Widow” the 2nd lowest-earning marvel film ever, behind “The Incredible Hulk.”
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This looks tacky. She is already a multi-millionaire and she’s whining that she didn’t make more millions in a global pandemic when a majority of Americans will never see a fraction of her total net worth and are suffering? This is disgusting.
What’s disgusting is Disney attempting to circumvent the contract they agreed upon by releasing the film on Disney+, thereby undercutting what they “legally” are required to pay her.
Hi ShameOnDisney! Thanks for the response. I respect your opinion, but couldn’t disagree with you more. A solid portion of the population is still not itching to go back to the movie theaters because they are uncomfortable due to the pandemic. Releasing the film on Disney+ and allowing those individuals the option to stream from home in fact increased the revenue for the film. Disney has already “legally” paid her 20 million dollars and she’s going to get paid more. This lawsuit filed has nothing more to do then with greed. That’s it. Greed. That type of greed in my opinion, is yes, disgusting is the word I used, when we have crumbling public schools, starving American children, homelessness, and families that still haven’t recovered from the impact of the pandemic from business closure, bankruptcy, etc.
its not so much about the money as it is Chapek being a dishonorable worm and breaking their contract agreement so he could make more money. Disney has given him way to much power and he can’t handle it. He has no honor. He should admit his wrong doing and settle out of court. Creep.
They would kill her for a soul stone in a second. I’m pretty sure Howard the Duck is still the lowest earning Marvel film ever on both duck world and earth. Quack!!!