Disney executives respond to the lawsuit of Scarlett Johansson, who alleged a breach of contract when the company premiered ‘Black Widow’ via streaming, at the same time as in theaters.
Yesterday we were talking about the actress’s decision to file a lawsuit with the Supreme Court, accusing Disney and Marvel of breaching the contract she signed prior to the release of ‘Black Widow’. According to his lawyer, Johansson had negotiated a part of the proceeds of the theatrical premiere, for the same reason the premiere on Disney Plus hurt those numbers.
Although neither Disney nor Marvel had commented, now the executives of the mouse company are ready to give reasons, saying they have always doubted the strategy of the streaming launch of ‘Black Widow’.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Disney feared that the premiere on Disney Plus would hurt the performance of the MCU movies. They stated that they were concerned about the potential negative effects that Premier Access could have on the entire Marvel franchise.
However, we know that this is not the fact. Since ‘Black Widow’ premiered on Disney Plus, the movie has collected an amount that exceeds $ 60 million, and that’s just streaming. As we talked yesterday, those numbers are not negative for the company, but they are negative for the agreement that Johansson signed.
Although this “response” does not seem to say anything at all, much less give an explanation for the breach of contract. If it makes us wonder: why, if Disney doubted the effects of the streaming launch, still moved forward with the decision?
Well, we think it has to do with the fact that her latest releases in Premier Access have taken her out of the park. ‘Lucca’ and ‘Soul’ as the best example. However, we are concerned that Disney wants to continue to maintain the format for the rest of Phase 4 of the MCU.
For now, Johansson and Disney remain in legal dispute, and it is unknown if they have reached an agreement.
