Disney Lawyer Calls ‘Black Widow’ Lawsuit a PR Stunt
The strain in the relationship between Scarlett Johansson and Disney shows no signs of dissipating given a story in Variety this week.
If you’ve been following along with MickeyBlog you’ll know that the Black Widow star sued Disney over her compensation which excluded revenue from Disney+. The actress, who’s salary was dependent on box office gross argued that Disney+ should’ve been in the mix when Disney made the decision to premiere the film in theaters and on their streaming network simultaneously.
However, if recent comments attributed to Longtime Disney attorney Daniel Petrocelli are anything to go by, Disney isn’t going to play ball. Petrocelli called the lawsuit “an attempt to force Disney to write a check that backfired.
The attorney continued, “It is obvious that this is a highly orchestrated PR campaign to achieve an outcome that is not obtainable in the lawsuit. ” He continued, “No amount of public pressure can change or obscure the explicit contractual commitments. The written contract is clear as a bell.”
Source: Complex.com
However, Johansson does have some allies on her side. SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris released a statement yesterday that was critical of Disney. In the statement Carteris said that Disney should be ashamed of their behavior and criticized the “gendered-tone” of Disney’s statement regarding the lawsuit.
“Scarlett Johansson is shining a white-hot spotlight on the improper shifts in compensation that companies are attempting to slip by talent as distribution models change,” Carteris said. “Nobody in any field of work should fall victim to surprise reductions in expected compensation. It is unreasonable and unjust. Disney and other content companies are doing very well and can certainly live up to their obligations to compensate the performers whose art and artistry are responsible for the corporation’s profits.”
Image Credit: Marvel Studios
Those, like Carteris, who are standing in support of Johansson see this as a prime example of gender pay inequity in Hollywood. Carteris told Variety, “Women are not ‘callous’ when they stand up and fight for fair pay – they are leaders and champions for economic justice. ” She continued, . “Women have been victimized by pay inequity for decades, and they have been further victimized by comments like those in Disney’s press statements. These sorts of attacks have no place in our society and SAG-AFTRA will continue to defend our members from all forms of bias.”
Source: @theblackwidow
The main area of dispute when it comes to Johansson’s Black Widow contract is that it was originally agreed that the film would screen at a minimum of 1,500 screens. Disney fulfilled this end of the agreement with the film appearing in over 9,000 cinemas and 30,000 worldwide. However, Disney decided in addition to the cinematic release to debut the film on their Disney+ network. Since this streaming release was not a part of Johansson’s contract it meant that she could only earn bonus pay from the box office gross- NOT Disney+ gross.
Johansson’s argument is that the simultaneous release strategy limited the amount of money the film would make at the box office and thus prevented Johansson from getting these box office bonuses.
Host Vick Hope and Florence Pugh are joined by Scarlett Johansson on stage at Marvel Studios’ “Black Widow” world premier fan event at Cineworld Leicester Square on June 29, 2021 in London, England.
However Petrocelli argued that Johansson’s claims aren’t exactly the case and that some of the Disney+ revenue makes up a portion of the box office profits thus meaning that Johansson will profit from Disney’s decision to release both in theaters and on Disney+ “We treated Disney Premier Access (revenue) like box office for the purposes of the bonus requirements in the contract. That only enhanced the economics for Ms. Johansson,” Petrocelli said.
Johansson’s lawyers see it differently arguing that Disney didn’t respond to the actors attempts to address the dispute ahead of the films July 9th opening. Disney argues that Johansson didn’t give them enough time to respond before the shows opening. However, Johansson’s lawyers deny that this is the case.
Petrocelli has said that Johansson’s team aren’t looking at the facts in regards to the economic impact that COVID-19 would have on box office numbers and believes that the decision to stream the film as well meant that it would reach a larger audience. “You had an unexpected COVID crisis and the studio was trying to accommodate millions of fans who are nervous and not comfortable going inside theaters,” Petrocelli said. “All studios have had to adjust.”
This is a story that we will continue to follow closely. Readers are encouraged to keep following along with us for further news and updates.
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