News broke today that Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney for the simultaneous release of Black Widow in theaters and on Disney+. The A-lister states that this was a breach of her initial contract. The decision to release both at the same time is said to have cost her an estimated $50 million.
“This will surely not be the last case where Hollywood talent stands up to Disney and makes it clear that, whatever the company may pretend, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts,” says John Berlinski, Johansson’s attorney.
In Johansson’s contract, she is promised a portion of the box office release. In releasing the film on the streaming platform, those numbers dropped considerably, thus bringing in less money.
A stream of people in the industry have voiced their complaints of how streaming platforms affect actor’s salaries. Black Widow is the first film to release on Disney+ Premiere, thus making Johansson the first actress to deal with this.
In related news, Black Widow has recently been making headlines for its sharp drop in performance at the theaters. The reason behind this is obvious and needs no explanation, further proving Ms. Johansson’s case.
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