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Black Widow Movie Rights: Understanding the Controversy behind Disney+

Disney+, a streaming service for Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and much more, has been taking the entertainment industry by storm. Classic shows, movies, and documentaries have slowly been removed from industry giants Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max and added to Disney+. In the Marvel domain, Disney+ has released original tv shows that carry forward the storyline of the universe. Shows such as Wandavision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki have already premiered, each with weekly episodes added to the streaming service. All three shows have received fantastic ratings, and Disney+ is sure to release more original content as the years go on.

 

On July 9th, 2021, Scarlett Johansson’s long-anticipated solo film, Black Widow, hit theatres. The movie takes the viewers through Natasha Romanoff’s childhood, and then divulges into her character development in 2016, right after the events of Captain America: Civil War. While the movie was an overall success, it was far from reaching its maximum potential. This is because Black Widow was released simultaneously on Disney+ and in theatres. Disney+ has a premier access program that is subscription-based. This allows subscribers to pay $29.99 and access the movie from home or on the go. 

 

Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday that alleges Disney breached her contract by releasing the highly anticipated superhero film “Black Widow” on its streaming service, Disney+. The contract stated that Johansson was to make a majority of her salary from box office revenue. “To maximize these receipts, and thereby protect her financial interests, Ms. Johansson extracted a promise from Marvel that the release of the picture would be a ‘theatrical release,'” the suit stated. “As Ms. Johansson, Disney, Marvel, and most everyone else in Hollywood knows, a ‘theatrical release’ is a release that is exclusive to movie theatres. Disney was well aware of this promise, but nonetheless directed Marvel to violate its pledge and instead release the picture on the Disney+ streaming service the very same day it was released in movie theatres.” 

 

The anticipation of Black Widow grew due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The film was originally set to release in May of 2020, and since then it has been delayed for over a year. When it came time to release in July, the movie made $80 million in its North America opening in theaters and $60 million globally on Disney+. “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,” John Berlinski, attorney for Johansson, told CNN Business. “But ignoring the contracts of the artists responsible for the success of its films in furtherance of this short-sighted strategy violates their rights and we look forward to proving as much in court.”

 

As the future of television and movies moves towards streaming devices, it is imperative to see this issue from the perspective of Disney. “Disney has fully complied with Ms. Johansson’s contract and furthermore, the release of ‘Black Widow’ on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20 million she has received to date,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement. For a brand as large as Marvel, and during a pandemic, Disney is smart for placing Black Widow on Disney+ (barring the contract being fulfilled). This allows all parties to benefit from consumers watching at home along with generating theater profits. 

As the legal disputes continue, it is interesting to monitor the development of streaming services such as Disney+. Will these services run movie theatres out of business? How will actors respond to reduced profits? Will the return of normal life after COVID-19 change the popularity of Disney+? These questions, along with many more, make the Marvel Cinematic Universe that much more interesting.