Scarlett Johansson sues Disney over Black Widow’s streaming release; studio calls it ‘sad and distressing’

Scarlett Johansson has filed a lawsuit against Disney, which owns Marvel Studios, for breach of contract over the release of her latest MCU movie Black Widow. The actress has cited a breach of contract after Disney released her film simultaneously in theatres as well as Disney+.

According to the report in The Wall Street Journal, Scarlett in her lawsuit has said that her contract with Disney-owned Marvel Entertainment involved a guarantee that Black Widow will be exclusively released in theatres and that her salary was based on the box-office performance of the film. Read on to know the details.

Scarlett has alleged that this breach of contract has cost her millions. Black Widow was slated to release in theaters however owing to the pandemic, Disney released it simultaneously in theaters as well as its OTT platform.

Scarlett’s lawyer in a statement to the news agency AFP said, “It’s no secret that Disney is releasing films like Black Widow directly onto Disney+ to increase subscribers and thereby boost the company’s stock price – and that it’s hiding behind COVID-19 as a pretext to do so. 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 honour its contracts.”

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Reacting to the actress’ lawsuit, Disney has dismissed it by saying, “The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The studio also said that the actress has already been paid $20 million for her work. And the release of the film on Disney+ with Premier Access has only “enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date.”

Black Widow also features Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz, and David Harbour. The film is yet to release in India.

Also Read: Scarlett Johansson on hyper-sexualization of Black Widow: In Iron Man 2, she’s talked about like a piece of a**

Pooja Sharma

Cinephile. Bibliophile. Pluviophile. Selenophile. Autophile. Aesthete. Blood group- Tea positive. Poetry lover. Sucker of rom-coms.

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