The current legal fight between Scarlett Johansson and Disney, which could prove to be a landmark case for the still-evolving streaming era, will be closely watched by Hollywood agencies, stars, and studios alike.
The actress and her lawyers say that Disney violated her contract with Marvel for the recently released Black Widow by forcing the company to broadcast the film on Disney+ at the same time that it was released in theatres.
Johansson’s contract included a lot of bonuses based on box office receipts, and her legal team claims that the choice to stream the film has hurt her chance to earn those payments by around $50 million.
They appear to have a point; the film has so far grossed just over $300 million worldwide, a low figure by Marvel’s standards, given that the studio’s blockbusters often gross in excess of $1 billion. Cinema owners in the United States have also stated that low returns are due to the film’s availability for home watching.
Samba TV, a streaming rating service, appears to back up theatres’ assertions, stating that Black Widow grossed $131.6 million in its first ten days on Disney+ in the United States alone. Disney, like many big streamers, does not provide watching statistics for its service.
Hollywood star-studio feuds aren’t unusual, especially at a time when the combination of a pandemic and the growing popularity of streaming means the entire mechanism for producing revenue from movies – and hence compensating talent – is constantly changing.
