‘Black Widow’ Star Scarlett Johansson Sues Disney Over Streaming

by Conan Simmons – August 3, 2021 – 9:56 pm

On July 29, Hollywood A-lister Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against Hollywood’s biggest studio, Disney.

The lawsuit is a Civil Case for Tortious Interference against Disney as the ‘Black Widow’ star claims the company forced Marvel to break its contractual agreement when it released the Marvel film ‘Black Widow’ day-and-date streaming on Disney+.

A spokesperson for Disney fired back stating, “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 $20 million she has received to date.”

The statement from Disney came just a day before the company released its movie ‘Jungle Cruise’ into theaters and on Disney+. ‘Jungle Cruise’ is a movie based on the amusement park ride at Disneyland which is currently open to the public.

As ‘Jungle Cruise’ advertises the theme park ride it should be of interest to note that last October, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic Disney was eager to reopen their amusement parks. California Governor Gavin Newsom said at the time, “We don’t anticipate in the immediate term any of these larger parks opening until we see more stability in terms of the data.” To which Disney Chief Medical Officer, Pamela Hymel, responded, “We absolutely reject the suggestion that reopening the Disneyland Resort is incompatible with a “health-first” approach.” she continued, “All of our other theme parks both in the United States and around the world have been allowed to open.” Disneyland would reopen April 30, 2021.

On top of that then-CEO of Disney, Bob Iger, had already announced the layoffs of 28,000 park employees before abruptly resigning from the California task force on economic recovery.

So, it’s very odd for Disney to say anyone else is showing “callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Johansson’s lawsuit makes the claim that a contractual agreement between the star and Marvel included bonuses based on theatrical performance at the box office. The deal was finalized May 9, 2017 with a guarantee of Johansson sharing in “box office receipts” and a promise the film would receive a “wide theatrical release” which is widely understood in Hollywood as being exclusive to theaters. At the time of the agreement movies would play exclusively in theaters for a standard period of 90 to 120 days. It wasn’t until last year, with theaters mostly closed, that the theatrical window was shortened to day-and-date for many films.

On March 7, 2019 Disney CEO Bob Iger told investors at a shareholder meeting that theatrical releases, from the Marvel film ‘Capatain Marvel’ onward, would only debut on Disney+ after playing in theaters.

Soon after, representatives for Ms. Johansson was assured in a meeting with Marvel Chief Counsel, Dave Galluzi:

“Further [to] our conversation today, it is 100% our plan to do a typical wide release of ‘Black Widow’. We have very high expectations for the film and are very excited to try to do for ‘Black Widow’ what we’ve just done with ‘Captain Marvel’.”

Galluzi also confirmed to them:
“We totally understand that Scarlett’s willingness to do the film and her whole deal is based on the premise that the film would be widely theatrically released like our other pictures. We understand that should the plan change, we would need to discuss this with you and come to an understanding as the deal is based on a series of (very large) box office bonuses.”

Johansson’s lawsuit clearly claims that Disney forced Marvel into letting the film be released day-and-date streaming on Disney+ so it could grow its subscriber base, “a proven way to boost Disney’s stock price”. Disney’s stock price did in fact increase when markets opened following the films release.

As verified by Disney’s financial statements both current Disney CEO, Bob Chapek, and former CEO now chairman, Bob Iger, received millions in compensation for their focused efforts on growing the Disney+ streaming service.

Disney has tried to turn public opinion against Scarlett Johansson with their statement declaring the actress was paid $20 million up front for appearing in the film. It is a clear effort by the Disney company to avoid acknowledging the terms in their employee contracts that hold the company and its subsidiaries, in this case Marvel, responsible for any deferred payments agreed upon. Disney doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge that CEO Bob Chapek makes 3.8 times his normal base salary for growing the Disney+ streaming service, which he has accomplished by putting films like ‘Black Widow’, ‘Jungle Cruise’ and ‘Cruella’ on the streamer.

Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit against Disney isn’t the only animosity going on at the House of Mouse, only the most publicly visible.

It’s been rumored for months that the two Bob’s, CEO Bob Chapek and former CEO Bob Iger, have been at odds with each other over how best to grow Disney+. Chapek is far more focused on the streaming service which may be a detriment to the rest of the business. Iger made a name for himself by being able to balance the multitude of products and services the company offers.

So, will other Marvel stars sue Disney?

Currently, it is only known that Marvel President Kevin Feige is “angry and embarrassed” by the situation between Disney and Johansson. Kevin Feige has been guiding the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2008 with the release of ‘Iron Man’. Feige is well known to be creator focused and very in-control of how his productions are run. It’s not surprising he’s upset by the situation, it is surprising that Marvel wasn’t able to work things out with Disney and Johansson before any lawsuits were filed.

It was inevitable that a lawsuit would emerge in Hollywood regarding the increased focus of studios releasing films to streaming day-and-date. The fact that the first real lawsuit to emerge aiming at this issue comes from one of Hollywood’s biggest stars against the biggest studio in the industry is what has taken everyone by surprise.

This may be the first lawsuit to argue for creator’s rights over the business-minded studios but it won’t be the last. ‘Cruella’ star Emma Stone and ‘Jungle Cruise’ star Emily Blunt are heavily rumored to be weighing their options toward suing Disney for the day-and-date release of their respective films.