Yet another war in the Marvel universe. Find out why Scarlett Johansson filed a suit against Disney, the parent company of Marvel.
The stand-alone movie for Black Widow was released in both theaters and Disney+ at the same time. The Marvel star filed a suit against Disney for down-mining the theatrical presence of her movie. Here is what happened after that.
Periwinkle Inc. representing Johansson, filed the suit on July 29. Petrocelli replied on behalf of Disney that “There is nothing in the Agreement requiring that a ‘wide theatrical release’ also be an ‘exclusive’ theatrical release.” Thus, the suit filed has “no merit.”
Petrocelli added, “As of August 15, 2021, the Picture has grossed more than $367 million in worldwide box-office receipts and more than $125 million in streaming and download retail receipts.”
The box office data showed that “Black Widow” had surpassed the box office collection of other Marvel Cinematic Universe movies like Thor: The Dark World, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Guardians of the Galaxy released before the pandemic.
Previously, Marvel and Disney tried to solve this case confidentially with the DTLA on the East Coast. But Johansson and her team of attorneys were set on bringing things to the public.
But now Disney has come out revealing that Johansson was paid $20 million up-front for playing Natasha Romanoff. Marvel had only agreed to release the movie on 1500 screens at a time. Disney added that the suit was “Especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The case is set to be heard in October in Los Angeles.
