Disney wants to deal with ScarJo in private

The last round of the battle between longtime Marvel Cinematic Universe star Scarlett Johansson and Marvel Studios parent company Disney began this weekend, when Disney lawyers filed a motion to put the dispute on Black Widowin private arbitration rather than having a public trial.

Johansthe son’s trial, as you will recall, alleges that Marvel promised that Black Widow would have a theatrical-only release, but that Disney forced the studio to make the film available on Disney + on the same day as its theatrical Release. Johansson’s attorney said it not only cannibalized the film’s box office profits, costing the actor millions in bonuses, but was also in violation of his contract with Marvel.

Disney’s motion refutes this, of course, and proposes certain details of the contract (courtesy of Hollywood journalist): “Disney says that Black Widow has been put on more than 9,000 screens in the United States, allegedly fulfilling its obligation to film over as many as 1,500 (again, Johansson says it had to be exclusive), and according to the latest filing, dated August 15th, Black Widow has grossed over $ 367 million in box office revenue worldwide and over $ 125 million in streaming and download revenue.

“Disney compares Black Widow released to other films in the Marvel Cannon, claiming the opening weekend’s take was “more than that of many other Marvel Cinematic Universe films, including Thor: The Dark World; The ant Man; Ant-Man and the Wasp; and guardians of the galaxy. ‘”

True, but he also ignores the massive and abnormal drop in attendance. Black Widow experienced between weeks one and two of its release, which saw opening weekend profits of $ 80 million drop to just $ 26.3 million. that of Johansson lawyers say Disney has set the highly anticipated Black Widow film on Disney + to attract subscribers to its streaming service rather than building its box office, and several theater owner associations have also accused Disney of the same motive.

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Details of Johansson’s Marvel contract have yet to be revealed, so we can’t tell if Disney honored him properly. However, given that Disney, immediately after being sued, attempted to shame publicly Johansson by announcing his base salary of $ 20 million for the film and essentially accusing him of not caring about the pandemic, Disney is unlikely to come out of that rose scent. The fact that the company wants to move the lawsuit to private arbitration as part of a lawsuit could talk about that, but to be fair, Disney said it was part of its contact as well.

However, to be fair Johansson, Disney has a long, long, long to try to pay as little as possible to the people who made the company worth $ 122 billion. So much the better for the Black Widow, like another female Marvel hero, to know her worth.

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