Guess it’s a good thing Natasha Romanoff is dead because it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing Scarlett Johansson back in that role even in flashbacks. The star and producer of Black Widow has sued Disney for violation of her contract.
A huge chunk of her paycheck for this film was to be drawn from ticket sales, but Disney decided to make Black Widow available day-and-date on Disney+ as a Premier Access title, meaning that subscribers had to pay $30 extra for it. It doesn’t appear that Johansson gets a cut of that, and she obviously doesn’t get any portion of the monthly fees that subscribers pay.
While Black Widow had a great opening— $80 million in the U.S., and $215 million globally– a record high since the pandemic shut everything down, it was also the most heavily pirated movie of the week. Thanks to Disney+, pirates had a crystal clear, flawless print to upload for all the internet to see. Black Widow dropped 62% in its second weekend, taking in just $26.25M domestically.
At this point, F9, which was not released for streaming, will make roughly twice what Black Widow is projected to make, which is about $350M, paltry for a Marvel movie, most of which have passed the $1 billion mark in recent years.
The introduction of Johansson’s suit reads:
Over the past decade, Scarlett Johansson’s work has generated billions of dollars for Marvel Studios, and, by extension, its parent company, Disney. In recognition of and reliance on this impressive track record, Marvel and Ms. Johansson agreed that her compensation for starring in the latest motion picture addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (“MCU”), Black Widow (the “Picture”), would be based largely on “box office” receipts generated by the Picture. 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.” 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.
The reasons for this were twofold. First, Disney wanted to lure the Picture’s audience away from movie theatres and towards its owned streaming service, where it could keep the revenues for itself while simultaneously growing the Disney+ subscriber base, a proven way to boost Disney’s stock price. Second, Disney wanted to substantially devalue Ms. Johansson’s agreement and thereby enrich itself. In the months leading up to this lawsuit, Ms. Johansson gave Disney and Marvel every opportunity to right their wrong and make good on Marvel’s promise. Unlike numerous other movie studios, however – including Warner Brothers who, on information and belief, settled with its talent on films such as Wonder Woman after it released those films “day-and-date” to its streaming service HBO Max last year – Disney and Marvel largely ignored Ms. Johansson, essentially forcing her to file this action.
You can read the entire filing here.
On Thursday, a Disney spokesperson responded:
“There is 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. 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 $20M she has received to date.”
Disney was immediately slammed across social media for “outing” Johansson’s salary and its general confrontational tone.
Even those outside the entertainment industry have chimed in. Andrew Yang, former candidate for mayor of New York and U.S. President, tweeted:
“I want to address the Walt Disney Company’s statement that was issued in response to the lawsuit filed against them yesterday by our client Scarlett Johansson. They have shamelessly and falsely accused Ms. Johansson of being insensitive to the global COVID pandemic, in an attempt to make her appear to be someone they and I know she isn’t.
“Scarlett has been Disney’s partner on nine movies, which have earned Disney and its shareholders billions. The company included her salary in their press statement in an attempt to weaponize her success as an artist and businesswoman, as if that were something she should be ashamed of. Scarlett is extremely proud of the work that she, and all of the actors, writers, directors, producers, and the Marvel creative team have been a part of for well over a decade.
“This suit was filed as a result of Disney’s decision to knowingly violate Scarlett’s contract. They have very deliberately moved the revenue stream and profits to the Disney+ side of the company leaving artistic and financial partners out of their new equation. That’s it, pure and simple.
“Disney’s direct attack on her character and all else they implied is beneath the company that many of us in the creative community have worked with successfully for decades.”
It remains to be seen how this will all play out. Keep in mind, this suit has just been filed and it’s very possible, maybe even likely, that Disney and Johansson will reach an agreement without going to court.
As a side note, Disney is releasing another potential blockbuster this weekend, Jungle Cruise, with Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. This will also be released in theaters and as a Disney+ Premier Access title. Insiders report that Johnson and his production company Seven Bucks have no intention of following in Johansson’s footsteps and going after Disney for any lost revenue from the Disney+ release.
If you still haven’t checked out Black Widow, it is currently in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access, and it was just announced that it will be released to buy digitally on August 9, and on physical media on September 14.
