After Black Widow all but bypassed cinemas, Scarlett Johansson launched subsequent legal action against Disney ā and sheās been reflecting on it.
One of the most surprising tangles that Disney found itself in over the last few years was when one of the stars of its Marvel universe, Scarlett Johansson, opted to take legal action against the firm.
This came about in the aftermath of the release of 2020’s
Black Widow. The film pretty much bypassed cinemas, due to lockdown and pandemic reasons, and as such the movie was released initially to Disney+ subscribers who also paid a premium on top (remember those days? Yikes). This in turn affected the back end deal that Johansson had signed up to, and her reps took the matter legal.
The case settled out of court, with Johansson reportedly pocketing a fair amount of cash for her trouble. Furthermore, she’s back working with Disney again now, whose management has changed over the last 12 months (again).
But as she’s reflected in a new interview with Variety, “I was sad and disappointed. But mostly sad”. She added that “It was such a surreal moment because we were all isolated and just sort of emerging a little bit. I was also really heavily pregnant, too, which in a weird way was amazing timing”. Her child was born, both were healthy, and her focus quickly moved on.
She added that there’s no bitterness, saying “I think it’s because I could separate the creatives at Disney from their business affairs department”. But she also confirmed that her Marvel days are done.
You can read the full interview,
here.
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