Scarlett Johansson has filed a lawsuit against Disney over loss of earnings regarding Black Widow, and to hear her tell it, she’s got an open and shut case. Johansson, who plays the titular Black Widow in what is likely her final portrayal of the character, claims she was promised the movie would open exclusively in theatres, and that her salary was structured around being offered a portion of the box office returns. It did not open exclusively in theatres - instead, it was available to stream via Disney+ Premium alongside the theatrical release. Like I said, from Johansson’s view, it’s open and shut. But Disney has a lot of lawyers that specialise in opening cases that appear to be shut, plus we’re only getting one side of the story. On top of that, it doesn’t matter who wins. We lose.
Just as confidently as Johansson’s statement, Disney was firm in its retort. The House of Mouse claims Johansson’s suit has “no merit whatsoever,” and that Johansson received compensation from the streaming dividends anyway. Disney had originally claimed the movie would have a theatrical release only, back in February of this year - this stance was reversed in March. The kicker to the statement is what’s particularly interesting though, with Disney adding, “The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
I have no skin in the game here. I’ve grown up watching and loving Disney films, but that hasn’t been enough for me to overlook the company’s rampant capitalism, with the conglomerate buying up everything in sight and constantly pushing back against fair use and public domain statutes. Similarly, Black Widow is one of the more interesting Avengers, and Johansson is the star of two of my favourite movies ever - Lost in Translation and Her. However, she also has questionable opinions about whether she, a white cis woman, should be allowed to play Asian women or trans men. They’re both rich entities I don’t particularly care about.
If Johansson had alleged that she’d been abused or mistreated, then that’s different - she’s a human being and, no matter how rich she is, should not need to tolerate that in the workplace. But in this case, she’s a millionaire claiming some billionaires cheated her out of a few millions. Without seeing the contract - and without a complex understanding of contract law or box office shares in the digital age - I don’t have any idea who’s in the right. I also don’t care. A much bigger issue is the way the two parties have weaponised a pandemic against each other, especially given that both are largely insulated from said pandemic. The ones who lose out are us, every time.
When Disney tried to guilt Johansson with COVID, her attorney John Berlinski shot back, “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.” For the first part, Berlinski is factually correct; as well as Black Widow, we’ve seen Raya and the Last Dragon, Cruella (and its bizarre opening), and the upcoming Jungle Cruise release in a similar fashion, with Raya and the Last Dragon now being available to regular Disney+ subscribers after its theatrical run has ended. As for the second part of Berlinski’s statement, it’s obviously speculation that Disney is “hiding” behind COVID to boost Disney+ - but the fact all of the above movies still opened in theatres anyway suggests protecting the population from COVID is not its biggest concern.
Both sides are using COVID quite glibly, tossing it back and forth as a playground insult to each other, seemingly forgetting it’s a deadly pandemic that has claimed the lives of millions. It’s being used in the same tone as Disney adding, “The release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date.” The irony of this billion dollar company trying to discredit an actress by pointing to her salary is apparently lost on Disney.
However, it’s worth pointing out that this $20 million appears to be specifically money earned from Black Widow’s box office, or perhaps refers to Johansson’s $15 million Widow salary plus an additional $5 million from the box office. To date, across all of her Avengers appearances, Johansson has actually earned somewhere in the region of $75 million.
COVID is the only thing we should care about here. In a hypothetical non-COVID world, this case doesn't really matter. It's just rich people fighting. You can try and ascribe some #girlboss meaning to Scarlett Johansson fighting for female solidarity, but there's none to be found. Johansson's salary is equal to Chris Evans' and Chris Hemsworth's, while it's almost double Paul Rudd's. She's paid fairly for her time. Perhaps Disney is screwing her out of earnings here, or perhaps she's trying to take the House for all it's worth on her way out the door. I don't know - and again, I don't care. We shouldn't care about either side here, but we should be outraged that we're being used as pawns in this legal battle.
Disney elected to open its movies in cinemas during a pandemic. Sure, it also gave you the option to pay for Disney+ Premium instead, but a lot of people went to the cinema to see Black Widow. Given the infection rate, the incessant controversy over masks, and the fact COVID numbers and R-rates are rising around the globe, the law of averages tells you some of them got COVID. A few may even have been hospitalised, or passed it on to someone who was then hospitalised, or worse. All so Disney could make more money off a comic book movie. Johansson's argument, meanwhile, is that more people should have been forced to do this, because some billionaires gave her a piece of paper that said the more people who risk COVID, the more money she makes. Why should we care about any of this? How can any of you take a side in this fight? The only side here is class solidarity. Scarlett Johansson is not your Girl Boss - she never was.