Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney for her "Black Widow" show.
US actress Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney over its decision to make the superhero movie "Black Widow" available on its streaming platform at the same time as it was shown in cinemas, claiming that this constituted a breach of contract that cost her millions of dollars.
Johansson, who is considered one of the most prominent and highest-paid Hollywood stars, is supposed to receive a percentage of the box office revenue from the "Marvel" movie, according to the text of the lawsuit she filed Thursday with the Los Angeles Superior Court.
The film was originally scheduled to be shown on the big screen last year, but its release was postponed more than once due to the Covid-19 pandemic, until it was eventually released this month simultaneously in cinemas and on the Disney Plus platform.
Box office experts noted that the launch of "Black Widow" by streaming was a major factor in the poor turnout in cinemas - according to the standards of "Marvel" films - for this movie, which earned only 150 million dollars within 3 weeks of its release in local theaters.
And Johansson's attorney, John Berlinsky, told AFP, "It is no secret that Disney releases films such as Black Widow directly on Disney Plus with the aim of increasing the number of subscribers and thus increasing the company's share price, citing Covid-19 to do so."
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And he expected Johansson's lawsuit not to be "the last case in which a Hollywood actor confronts Disney as an assertion that it must respect its legal obligations, whatever the argument it claims."
Disney, which owns Marvel Studios, which specializes in superhero films, confirmed that it had not breached the contract.
In a statement, the group considered Johansson's lawsuit "sad", and regretted that "she ignored the horrific and continuing global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic."
Disney, like many other Hollywood studios, is giving more and more priority to streaming as a future source of income.
Disney issued a statement after the "Black Widow" weekend, announcing that the movie had grossed "in excess of $60 million" on Disney Plus alone, where it was made available to subscribers at an additional cost of $30.
The lawsuit filed by Johansson stated that the star "obtained, in order to protect her financial interests, a promise from Marvel that the film would be released in cinemas," which she understood meant that it would not be shown by streaming until after the customary time period had passed.
But the lawsuit alleges that Disney "wanted to lure audiences away from movie theaters toward its streaming service, so that it could keep revenue for itself while expanding Disney Plus' subscriber base, an effective way to boost Disney's share price."
The lawsuit concluded that Disney sought to "substantially devalue the agreement with Johansson, and thereby enrich itself."
The rival Warner Brothers was criticized last year for a similar decision to release all of its 2021 films simultaneously in theaters and on its HBO Max platform.
Warner renegotiated several of its contracts with stars and directors, and was reported to have paid $200 million to make up for the lost box office profit.
