‘Black Widow’ Total Gross Approaching $500 Million; Has Earned $125 Million from Disney+ Alone
Marvel’s most recent film was supposed to be the studio’s triumphant return to cinemas after a terribly barren 2020; despite the controversy surrounding the film’s star, it appears the Black Widow total gross is approaching $500 million, while the film has earned $125 million from Disney+ alone.
The MCU prequel appears to be approaching the lauded $500 benchmark after its July 9th dual release on both theaters and the Disney+ streaming platform; with a combination of its performances in cinemas and on the streaming service making it immensely profitable thus for the Walt Disney Company.
With the debut of Marvel’s highly anticipated prequel film, Black Widow, came a falling out between Marvel Studios and the star of the film; longtime Marvel collaborator Scarlett Johansson.
The actress and the studio became embroiled in a legal battle over a contractual dispute that saw Johansson claim the studio altered distribution methods despite knowing how those alterations would affect the actress’s opportunities for appropriate and fair compensation.
As with most contracts in the film industry, often perfomers will be compensated based off how well a certain movie does at the box office; meaning that compensation for a certain project lays entirely in the hands of how well a film does during its theatrical release.
Due to lingering issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, studios were forced to alter their distribution models; opting to often forgo an exclusive theatrical release altogether in favor of duel streaming and theatrical distribution model.
Source: globalnew.ca
The issue that Johansson and Disney ran into is in the uncharted territory of this transition; it appears the language in the contract of Black Widow didn’t reflect this alteration in distribution models, with the Disney+ premiere access release interfering with Johannson’s compensation opportunites.
This seems to only be worsening the situation as Screenrant has reported the actress’s claims of losses up to $50 million.
Marvel Studios have already said that Black Widows distribution model will not be repeated; as the film’s $80 million first weekend box office numbers make it one of the studio’s lowest earning MCU films of all time.
One has to question whether or not Marvel’s focus on box office numbers, however, will limit the potential they have in their own streaming service; as Black Widow’s $60 million made in premiere access packages during the films opening weekend give context to the films overall profitability.
Source: IMAX.com
Time will only tell how this impacts future Marvel projects and the current legal proceedings against Scarlett Johannson.
We do know, however, with news that Black Widow total gross is approaching $500 Million that Marvel has once again proven their dominance over the cinema landscape with Black Widow’s undeniable success.
Image: techradar.com
