ScarJo Files Suit Against Disney

[Kirby101]

I am sure there are people with Disney+ who decided to pay for BW and stream it (as some people here did) but I wonder how many people sign up for Disney+ so they get to pay the extra $30 to stream a new release? In other words does the $30 VOD get them more subscribers, or is it just something people already subscribed use. Would they unsubscribe without the occasional same day VOD?

[C_Miller]

Your not wrong. On the other hand how many people who streamed wouldn't have gone to the theater at all? I know for me personally I wasn't going to the theater to see BW but I streamed it. And I may do the same with Jungle Cruise.

You're not wrong. But when you take a back end deal, you always undertake some level of risk. If Black Widow had maintained the standard release and had failed, Johansson wouldn't be able to sue them because that's the risk you take when you do this. But it's rendered moot when Disney changes the terms of the release after the contract is made.

[Nods]

The point is they should have paid Scarlett, Black Widow was pretty rough as a film to begin with. It just looked cheap so I don't get why they couldn't have cut her a check and been done with it.

[titanfan]

The point is they should have paid Scarlett, Black Widow was pretty rough as a film to begin with. It just looked cheap so I don't get why they couldn't have cut her a check and been done with it.

Internally, their projections must have been higher. After Week 1, it looked like BW was not going to have similar success as other Marvel films. So rather than negotiate with Scarlett up front, pay her more money and then have BW be huge at the box office (and streaming) anyway, they would have lost money that way.

When WB paid out everyone, they kind of just assumed everything was going to be a hit, and Disney might not have wanted to set that precedent as well.

[inisideguy]

You're not wrong. But when you take a back end deal, you always undertake some level of risk. If Black Widow had maintained the standard release and had failed, Johansson wouldn't be able to sue them because that's the risk you take when you do this. But it's rendered moot when Disney changes the terms of the release after the contract is made.

Oh I get what you are saying. If the reporting on the deal is correct, Scarjo got screwed out of some money. But I am not so sure the same day streaming wasn't in the best interest of the Disney company and its customers.

[Colossus1980]

The point is they should have paid Scarlett, Black Widow was pretty rough as a film to begin with. It just looked cheap so I don't get why they couldn't have cut her a check and been done with it.

How much do you think she should have been compensated? Disney was in the wrong but the movie is really lagging internationally. COVID, illegal DL, and streaming has definitely hurt BW but I don't think Scarjo would have gotten an extra 50M because it's sputtering overseas, especially without China.

[luprki]

I don’t think evil mouse did anything wrong. She took the risk and Disney fulfilled the promise of a wide release. The fans who didn’t want to go to a theater was able to watch it at home. D+ likely hurt the box, but I think it wasn’t a violation of the contract. Her position that wide release and exclusive release are the same thing is bogus, sound like this ridiculous position came from a lawyer.
I see nothing wrong with giving us a choice in a pandemic, but it look like ScarJo didn’t want her fans to have that choice. Seems she would rather have more people in theaters spreading virus to each other so she can make extra bucks. I think this is disgusting.
Bottom line is backend deals are risky, she gambled and loss.

[Colossus1980]

I'm curious how BW would have done with theatre release only. I highly doubt the movie would have hit all the box office marks that would have netted Scarjo 50M. Interest seems to have died internationally. I'm sure it would have passed 200M no problem in NA but without 200M from China is it only a 500M movie? Would it have passed F9?

[titanfan]

I see nothing wrong with giving us a choice in a pandemic, but it look like ScarJo didn’t want her fans to have that choice. Seems she would rather have more people in theaters spreading virus to each other so she can make extra bucks. I think this is disgusting.
Bottom line is backend deals are risky, she gambled and loss.

She tried to renegotiate with Disney. I'm sure she would have been fine with X% of download sales/views of the movies in addition to the theater sales.

[luprki]

She tried to renegotiate with Disney. I'm sure she would have been fine with X% of download sales/views of the movies in addition to the theater sales.

I agree, but the evil mouse lawyers probably told the executives there was no need to renegotiate since there is no contract violation.

[Kirby101]

I agree, but the evil mouse lawyers probably told the executives there was no need to renegotiate since there is no contract violation.

And you know this how?

[inisideguy]

I'm curious how BW would have done with theatre release only. I highly doubt the movie would have hit all the box office marks that would have netted Scarjo 50M. Interest seems to have died internationally. I'm sure it would have passed 200M no problem in NA but without 200M from China is it only a 500M movie? Would it have passed F9?

Yea I mean we don't even know what those marks are. Everyone is just guessing? Is that based on a billion dollars? Cause that was not going to happen streaming or not with the pandemic going on.

[inisideguy]

I am sure there are people with Disney+ who decided to pay for BW and stream it (as some people here did) but I wonder how many people sign up for Disney+ so they get to pay the extra $30 to stream a new release? In other words does the $30 VOD get them more subscribers, or is it just something people already subscribed use. Would they unsubscribe without the occasional same day VOD?

I can just speak for myself I am subscribed to Disney + and have been for over a year. But I am sure there are some people who subscribed specifically for BW. And will drop it next month maybe. On the other hand some might keep it because there are other things they have found and liked. Its probably a win win for Disney + either way.

[chicago_bastard]

I'm curious how BW would have done with theatre release only. I highly doubt the movie would have hit all the box office marks that would have netted Scarjo 50M. Interest seems to have died internationally. I'm sure it would have passed 200M no problem in NA but without 200M from China is it only a 500M movie? Would it have passed F9?

It will get a China release in August but the money it'll make there will likely be significantly less than it could have been without the day and date streaming release as reportedly many Chinese have already watched illegal copies of BW in high quality. This wasn't a problem when other MCU movies like Infinity War had a delayed China release because without a day and date Disney+ release there were no high quality copies of these movies available. So the (assumed) poor China result will also be due to the day and date release.

Then there are countries like Germany and Japan where a high number of theatres refuses to show BW as a form of protest against the day and date streaming release. In Germany BW played only in roughly 260 theatres on opening weekend whereas F9 played in more than 600 theatres. This is obviously hurting BW's box office in these countries and is also a direct consequence of the day and date release.

Repeated viewings in theaters by hardcore fans that are normally very important for MCU movies are almost a non-factor this time as these people bought the movie on Disney+ and can now watch it endlessly without paying for the repeated viewings.

This can also be seen in countries that don't have Disney+ yet and therefore show BW exclusively in theaters, as the holds in subsequent weeks are clearly better than in the USA there. In South Korea the second weekend drop was at -54% which is a good hold for an MCU movie whereas in the USA it was almost -70%. This shows a correlation between the day and date release and the legs a movie has at the box office.

There are more points that I already covered in other threads but I'm too lazy to write them again and this is already enough to give an impression of the impact the day and date release has.

I believe without the day and date release 230 million domestic and >700 million worldwide (including 200 million from China) would have been possible.

[Castle]

ScarJo will have to convince the court that the pandemic is not an extenuating circumstance. This will hard to do because the courts itself has been adversely affected by the pandemic. She is playing the PR games, hoping Disney will give into PR pressure. Disney has been known to coward when it come to PR, at least under Bob Iger. He coward under PR pressure to rehire James Gun. It will be interesting to see how Bob Chapek handle this situation.

Yes, PR is very important to Disney, this is a nightmare for them and they will want ASAP to make it go away.

As for Bob Chapek, I don't see him been any different, for a big studio like Disney that does feed of the good and bad side of cooperate capitalism. Chapek comes off as a person that is there to keep a status quo going.

You know this is such a shame an artist is sueing Disney for money streaming issues. it would have been more interesting for an artist (director)to sue Disney for taking away most of their creative freedom in a film. lol.