Sued Disney, from the battle of “Black Widow”

The outcome of the trial is likely to have a profound impact on the distribution and distribution of films after the epidemic.

As a highly influential first-line female star in Hollywood, the lawsuit brought by “Black Widow” Scarlett Johansson against Disney is causing a chain reaction.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Scarlett Johansson, the star of the Marvel movie “Black Widow”, filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court last Thursday, accusing Disney of breaching the contract by showing “Black Widow” in theaters and Disney+ streaming services. And it made her lose the box office share.

Foreign media’s litigation documents show that the previous agreement between Scarlett Johansson and Disney’s Marvel Entertainment guarantees that “Black Widow” will be released exclusively in theaters for 90 to 120 days. However, Disney violated the agreement and paid less than $30. The rent has released movies in theaters and its streaming media Disney+ at the same time. According to news analysis, this approach is expected to cost Johnson more than 50 million U.S. dollars.

More Disney actors are considering rights protection. For example, Emma Stone, whose starring “Black and White Witch Kuila” also uses a mixed distribution model of theater and streaming media. The same is true for the just-released Jungle Adventure. If the protagonist does not sign a new contract with Disney, they can also initiate a breach of contract lawsuit.

The impact of the epidemic on the global film and television industry continues, and the mixed distribution model has become a trend, and this lawsuit filed on Thursday is setting a precedent for other parties affected by the mixed distribution model.

But even the “Black Widow” knows that fighting is never easy, and if it is not the last resort, she and her team do not want to go this far.

Disney’s legal affairs have always been called “the strongest legal affairs on the surface.” It can be said that “no sand is allowed in the eyes” of infringement. In the view of producer Chi Qingbo, Disney should be “very smart” through the legal team to determine that all losses caused by the breach will not exceed the benefits before it makes such a decision. Meaning at all.

Loss of “Black Widow”

On July 9, “Black Widow” premiered in theaters simultaneously with the streaming media platform Disney+. Platform members can watch it for a single payment of US$29.99.

“Black Widow” in the first week of the North American theaters’ box office of 80 million US dollars, the second week plummeted to 26 million US dollars, and then box office revenue continued to decline; streaming media, through Disney + paid on-demand first weekend of 60 million US dollars, but Disney only announced The first week’s income.

Currently, “Black Widow” has a gross box office of 319 million U.S. dollars. According to this trend, it may become one of the lowest-grossing Marvel movies in history. And Scarlett Johansson’s remuneration largely comes from the film’s revenue performance at the box office.

According to the analysis of the American Theater Business Association, the main reason for “Black Widow”’s box office drop of nearly 69% in the next week is that Disney allowed the film to be launched simultaneously on Disney+, which weakened the strong early screening box office and the lasting performance of all other window periods. This leads to the outflow of piracy, which keeps movie fans away from theaters and paid copies.

According to TorrentFreak, a website that has long tracked piracy news, “Black Widow” is indeed the most pirated and downloaded a movie that week.

According to foreign media TechCrunch, in the emails between Kevin Yorn, the contract agent of Scarlett Johansson and Dave Galluzzi, Marvel’s chief attorney Dave Galluzzi, provided by the prosecutor in March 2019, Scarlett Johansson expressed concerns about streaming services at the time. . And Dave Galluzzi promises that “Black Widow” will be released on a traditional theater line. If the plan changes, they will discuss and reach a consensus with Johnson. After all, the contract involves a series of (high) box office shares.

However, after the decision to release “Black Widow” on Disney+, Marvel Studios and Disney did not respond to the Scarlett Johansson team’s request to renegotiate the contract.

In a statement provided to TechCrunch, Scarlett Johansson’s lawyer stated that it’s no secret that Disney will release movies like “Black Widow” directly to Disney+ to increase subscribers, thereby increasing the company’s stock price. He accused Disney of “hiding behind COVID-19”, advancing such a streaming media strategy infringed on the rights of Hollywood stars, and “no matter how Disney pretends, it has a legal obligation to perform the contract.”

Disney responded by claiming that “this lawsuit has no meaning” and that Disney fully complied with the contract with Scarlett Johansson. In addition, Disney claims that in addition to the $20 million that Scarlett Johansson has received, the release of “Black Widow” on Disney+ has also enhanced her ability to earn additional profits.

The statement also criticized Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit as “a cold disregard for the terrible and long-term impact of the new crown pandemic on the world.”

Cinema VS Streaming

However, the epidemic is only a factor that intensifies contradictions. The lawsuit initiated by Scarlett Johansson against Disney is the latest battle in the escalating war among the various stakeholders in the film industry as the epidemic continues.

According to the “New York Times” report, for the previous decision to “synchronize the hospital network”, after negotiations, Warner Bros. to the director of “Wonder Woman 1984” Patty Jenkins and heroine Gal Gadot each compensated 10 million US dollar “additional remuneration” to make up for the possible loss of box office share, and in exchange for the two people’s support for the mixed distribution model.

In December last year, Warner Bros. announced that all its 2021 films will be released simultaneously in cinemas and HBO Max streaming platforms, including blockbuster action films such as “The Matrix 4” and “Godzilla vs. King Kong”. To amend the agreement between related parties, Warner needs to pay more than $200 million.

As soon as the news came out, the share prices of many theaters in the United States plummeted, and the share prices of AMC and Ximanke Cinemas fell by more than 15%. Adam Allen, CEO of AMC Cinemas, accuses Warner Bros. of intending to sacrifice a large part of the profitability of its film studio division, production partners and film producers to subsidize the development of HBO Max.

The famous director Christopher Nolan also criticized, “Some of the biggest producers and most important movie stars in our industry think that they are working for the best film company when they go to bed at night, but wake up to find that they are working for the best film company. Poor streaming (HBO Max) work.”

In fact, due to the HBO Max release plan, Warner Bros. had also faced litigation threats before.

Legendary Pictures invested 75% of the annual heavyweight films of “Godzilla vs. King Kong” and “Dune” and issued a legal warning to Warner Bros. after the announcement. However, after the two parties reached an agreement, the mixed distribution model was able to take place.

Cases of public suing Disney like Scarlett Johansson are quite rare. Since 2010’s “Iron Man 2”, she has starred in 9 Marvel movies, but “Black Widow” may be one of the lowest-grossing movies in the Marvel series.

After the film was released, Scarlett Johansson said in an interview that she was ready to withdraw from the series, “I don’t plan to come back as Natasha. This time it feels like a good way to complete Marvel’s identity.”

After the news of the prosecution came out, due to the popularity of both sides of the incident, it quickly became a hot topic on the news media and social networks. The result of the trial is likely to have a profound impact on the distribution and distribution of films after the epidemic.

Compared with overseas, the domestic situation is different. Disputes mainly occur between the theater and the producer. For example, last year, after Huanxi Media’s original Spring Festival movie “囧 Ma” announced its premiere on ByteDance’s major online platforms, the Zhejiang film industry issued a joint statement that it would boycott Huanxi Media and the film works produced by Xu Zheng to a certain extent.

Chi Qingbo said that as far as China is concerned, once the filming is completed, the right to speak about copyright operations will fall into the hands of Party A’s immediate production or production company. Most actors are only responsible for acting and getting paid. Only a small number of actors may interfere with the way and channel of the film’s release because of the establishment of a company, investment in the film, and participation in joint production.