Disney rebuffs Scarlett Johansson after she claims she was robbed of ‘Black Widow’ streaming income in new lawsuit

Actress Scarlett Johannsson has sued Walt Disney Studios for releasing her Marvel film ‘Black Widow’ on its streaming service along with film theaters. The transfer is alleged to value her $ 50 million in potential bonuses.

Johansson’s attorneys filed the lawsuit on Thursday within the Los Angeles Superior Court docket, looking for unspecified financial damages. The lawsuit claims that Disney breached their contract after they launched the Avengers spinoff on the streaming service “the exact same day” it was launched in film cities, thereby decreasing ticket gross sales – on which Johansson’s contractual bonuses largely depended.

“Disney deliberately induced Marvel’s breach of the settlement, with out justification, with the intention to stop Ms. Johansson from realizing the complete advantage of her cut price with Marvel,” the lawsuit stated. As an alternative, the Home of Mouse wished to steer audiences to the Disney+ streaming service, “the place it may preserve the revenues for itself whereas concurrently rising the Disney+ subscriber base, a confirmed approach to increase Disney’s inventory value.”

The lawsuit claimed that Johansson made repeated makes an attempt to succeed in out to Disney and Marvel, giving the leisure behemoths “each alternative to proper their incorrect,” however as a substitute they “largely ignored” her. The grievance identified that “quite a few different film studios,”  together with Disney’s rival Warner Brothers, reportedly settled with their expertise on such hits as Surprise Lady after releasing them in theaters and on HBO concurrently final 12 months.

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‘Black Widow’ is the newest Marvel cinematic universe launch, an Avengers spinoff starring Johansson as femme fatale Natasha Romanov. It was launched in early July, setting the pandemic box-office document of $ 80 million in North American ticket gross sales and one other $ 78 million abroad. It additionally grossed $ 60 million on Disney+, the place subscribers needed to pay an additional $ 30 to get entry. 

Whereas it was well-received by each critics and audiences, its ticket gross sales cratered after the opening weekend and presently stand at round $ 319 million in whole – making ‘Black Widow’ one of many lowest-grossing Marvel motion pictures ever.

Responding in an announcement, Disney stated there was “no advantage” to the lawsuit, arguing the corporate totally complied with the contract and that the streaming launch “considerably enhanced” Johansson’s capacity “to earn extra compensation on high of the $ 20 million she has acquired so far.”

Disney additionally referred to as the lawsuit “particularly unhappy and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and extended world results of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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Johansson’s price for ‘Black Widow’ was reportedly the identical as her earlier pay for the final two ‘Avengers’ movies, however her contract tied bonuses to theatrical benchmarks, which her attorneys now declare the streaming launch circumvented. A supply with information of the matter instructed the Wall Road Journal that the film’s launch on the streaming service may value the actress greater than $ 50 million.

The 36-year-old Johansson is among the highest-paid actresses on the earth, with an estimated web value of over $ 150 million. Her highest price was a reported $ 17.5 million for ‘Ghost within the Shell,’ a 2017 characteristic that’s thought of a field workplace flop and was rated mediocre by each critics and audiences.

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