Marvel's Black Widow

didn't particularily like the car chase, would have preferred to see more taskmaster fights up close, it was them two talking and then taskmaster killing or injuring a load of people in the APC, maybe it was supposed make TM seem like the terminator that didn't care about people at all, suggesting it was a robot of some sort...

Looking at boxofficemojo site. (first that came up when googled for mcu movie box office

I wouldn't have expected it to do as well as it has in comparison to other films. Though I am curious how well it would've done if cinema only release and/or there was no pandemic. And would the premium fee count as box office to go to her percentage?

if the contract said exclusive theatrical release, then it’s as clear day that she has every right to sue. I’d love to see if Disney have themselves covered somewhere in the contract.

Personally I think it looks bad on scarlett johansson. The pandemic has hurt a lot of people at Disney, the film division, theme parks, cruise lines, etc. They all took a huge hit. Disney+ and premier access have been the saving grace for Disney. The two Bobs have done exceptionally well to keep the company in a healthy position and have possibly saved a ton of jobs. I genuinely believe the premier access and same day release was the best option here to minimise the loss.

Did ScoJo lose money? Yes, but so did Disney, so did the theme park workers, so did the cruise line workers, so did the contractors and staff that where due to work on the delayed movies. Unfortunately that’s just one of the many consequences of a global pandemic.

I am curious that they didn't give her a cut of the disney+ release in exchange for dropping that part of her contract out. They had to have realised it was part of the contract and easier to deal with than lawyers later on unless they didn't think she would push it.

I doubt many will think worse of her for catching out the Disney legal team though.

it looks like Disney are in the wrong, the cinemas were open globally so muh covid doesnt work as some kind of force majeure

Disney's statement is so ham fisted that I'm wondering who else on the senior team has departed the Mouse House in the last week or two.  If I was given to gossip and conspiracy theories, I'd say this was more music to Iger's ears.  Medium to Long term I think Johansson's people are betting that Chapek's tenure will be fairly short and won't impact on any post Marvel projects

Yeah, it’s a tough one, I don’t think either side is coming across very well at the moment.

I do find the wording of SJs statement to be a little inaccurate.

IMO, saying it was without justification is simply wrong. It was a film that was already out of date, releasing it now under the circumstances they did was fully justified. The MCU is basically a serialised TV show, holding onto this for another year to wait for the movie going audiences to return to normal levels would have been a disaster.

I doubt very much the contract states that the movie would be launched exclusively to theatres. If it does, major booboo on Disney's part.

And Disney are worth bajillions and could easily find 50m for SJ in Donald Duck's shorts. There's no reason SJ should be at a substantial loss when it's likely Disney made a fortune in D+ subscriptions and premium access.

I wouldn’t be rushing to the defence of either side of this one just yet. It could be that SJ is fighting this for the wider staff as well. I doubt she needs the money, and by doing this she’s put her whole career in jeopardy. She’s burnt her bridges with Disney, whilst other studies who have suffered badly may also see her as a trouble maker, someone who hasn’t played ball during a time of uncertainty, so this could potentially blow up in her face. But she’s obviously done this for a reason.

I know WB took the hit and paid off their stars when they released their movies on HBOmax, I bet Disney are regretting not doing the same now.

It will be an interesting one to follow that’s for sure.

For me, it's the timing that seems a bit out.

Scarletts representatives would have known for a while that Disney would have been considering the dual release. Scarlett would have been aware as she was doing the zoom call PR interviews leading up to the dual release. Why didn't she try to stop the release in the first place?

The negotiations should have been done and settled before the movie hit our screens. I'm not saying she doesn't have a point, but it should have been made earlier than this.

Pretty sure she's going to lose.

Kind of hard to argue what the definition of "wide theatrical release" is when it's defined in the actual contract you've signed; 1500+ screens.