Scarlett Johansson, who plays Natasha Romanoff in the Marvel movies, has sued Disney for the damages caused by the launch strategy of the movie in which she stars, ‘Black Widow’. The multinational premiered the film simultaneously in theaters and on its premium streaming channel.
This decision, according to the actress’s lawsuit, has slowed down box office receipts compared to the increase in Disney + billing, and has meant a loss of about 50 million dollars in bonuses for Johansson. The actress alleges that the company breached the contract by undermining box office sales, which is the measure producers use to calculate the bonuses they must pay their cast in addition to the cache.
After hearing the news, the company’s shares fell 1.31% on the New York Stock Exchange to $176.02, leading the entertainment giant to lose everything it had advanced in the week.
The second lowest-grossing Marvel movie
The plaintiff received guarantees from Disney that the premiere would enjoy a theatrical release in style, which made it understood that the big screen would have the exclusive of ‘Black Widow’. However, it is not until March when the company announces that the premiere would take place simultaneously in theaters and streaming, with an additional fee of $30, as reported by Forbes.
This situation could be to blame for the fact that the film has positioned itself for the moment as the second lowest grossing in the Marvel franchise, only surpassed by The Incredible Hulk. Until now, the film starring Johansson has only collected 318 million dollars worldwide, a figure far from the 1,000 million that the actress needed to receive the 50 million dollars of bonus. Notably, only nine of the 24 films in the franchise passed this threshold.
On the contrary, as the company itself has said in a statement, ‘Black Widow’ grossed 60 million dollars in Disney + Premier Access in its first weekend alone. The multinational, far from remaining silent, accused Johansson of being insensitive to the pandemic situation: “The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing because of its insensitive disregard for the horrible and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Forbes collects.
However, the prioritization of the premium streaming service against the box office has a big problem. Scarlett Johansson is not the only one affected by the low figures of the cinema. The rest of the workers who are part of the creation of the work, and who do not have a star salary, also suffer the consequences. Scriptwriters, digital animators or editors, among others, depend to a great extent on the proper functioning of the premiere on the big screen.
For this reason, it is foreseeable that, if the lawsuit goes ahead, the industry contracts will begin to have a specific clause to avoid this type of conflict or, on the contrary, one of the two parties will be seriously affected, be it the cinema or streaming.