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Update: ScarJo and Disney have reached a settlement in her Black Widow breach of contract lawsuit


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I have not read this thread yet and it loaded on page 2, so sorry if I'm just repeating shit, but this is an open and shut case for ScarJo, assuming certain things about her contract, which obviously we don't know the exact details of. It sounds like part of the money they owed her was based specifically on box office revenue, and she's arguing they undercut her.

 

Let's say you and I start a business where we sell t-shirts. You make them and I sell them. I say "hey, I have an exclusive deal with Wal-Mart, I'll give you 50% and I'll take 50%", and you say okay, and then later I start selling the t-shirts at Target and I don't give you a dime. My argument would be "I only said I'd give you 50% of the Wal-Mart sales," and your argument would be "there were only supposed to BE Wal-Mart sales." I would lose.

 

Convoluted analogy, but in this case Disney+ is Target.

 

Similarly, again without knowing what exactly her contract was, in civil cases there are instances of plausibility. For an extreme example, let's say I give you a contract and say that I'm going to give you 2 equal payments that amount to $4, and then I only give you $3, and my defense is that 1.5+1.5=4. It doesn't matter that that is not in the contract, we all know that 2+2=4. You can't just be "well the contract didn't specifically stipulate the properties of arithmetic, so 4 can be whatever I want." I still owe you that $4. So if you can make an argument that there's a reasonable expectation of market share, it's gucci. Again, stupid example, but hopefully you get the point.

 

I think we're going to see more of this. It's a shame, because I love the model of opening movies on streaming services for an extra charge. I mostly watch movies at like 4 in the morning, it's not like there are any theaters open, anyway. Plus $30 is probably close to what I spend when I go to one anyway, it doesn't bother me.

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1 minute ago, Kal-El814 said:

I’d wager that after being a bit player in other people’s movies, this was her chance to really cash out. I feel weird rooting for millionaires to get more millions, but you know, Disney sucks shit generally so go gettem, I suppose.

I'm rooting for millionaires over billionaires. Gotta pick a dog in every fight, I suppose. Unless it's 2 billionaires against each other, in which case let's just bring the nukes out.

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After more googling, Disney+ didn't even exist when filming of this movie began (so presumably all contracts were already signed), therefore doing a simultaneous opening on that platform and not giving her a share of it would be in clear violation of that contract. If I have that right, legalese has too many double negatives, it gets confusing sometimes. Disney should then be obligated to give to her whatever their estimated streaming revenue was from Black Widow in pursuance with her contract regarding BO numbers, since they were, by any definition, undercutting those numbers.

 

I don't really see how it could come to any other conclusion barring revelations about specificities of her contract or whatever that we don't know.

 

My guess is Disney is going to settle and Scarlett Johansson is going to make many more millions of dollars, and Disney will lose slightly less, but still also make many more millions of dollars.

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1 hour ago, Kal-El814 said:

I’d wager that after being a bit player in other people’s movies, this was her chance to really cash out. I feel weird rooting for millionaires to get more millions, but you know, Disney sucks shit generally so go gettem, I suppose.

 

This seems like sports, where just because they're getting paid millions doesn't mean that they don't have even richer people looking to exploit/underpay them for their labor.

 

Whether millions should be the standard going rate for high-profile sports or acting in the first place is a separate question. Right now it is the going rate and their employers are trying to screw them out of the going rate.

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1 minute ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

To follow-up on what @skillzdadirecta said earlier:

 

e4c7573131c8e7a292dbd9a352384470.jpg
WWW.AVCLUB.COM

The MCU producer was reportedly against the Disney Plus release of Black Widow from the start

 

They're gonna lose him and the whole franchise will tank. 

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20 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

They're gonna lose him and the whole franchise will tank. 


You are typically pretty grounded and not over reactive to these type of stories. Do you think Feige could actually leave over this? If someone else suggested that I’d be skeptical but if even you think it’s a possibility I’m starting to think this could get bad.

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4 minutes ago, Komusha said:


You are typically pretty grounded and not over reactive to these type of stories. Do you think Feige could actually leave over this? If someone else suggested that I’d be skeptical but if even you think it’s a possibility I’m starting to think this could get bad.

He's really not happy with the streaming thing Disney is doing. Plus the way they did Scarlett may tip him over. 

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8 hours ago, Jason said:

 

In what regard, the shows as well?

 

1 hour ago, Mercury33 said:


I dont think he means he hates the app or the original content. I think he means he probably really dislikes the Simultaneous movie release for $30 thing 

That's what I meant. He definitely is against the simultaneous release on the Disney app and has said several times that Marvel movies are designed for the cinema.

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28rep_opener_illo_w.jpg?w=1024
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As the Bob Chapek-led regime goes to war with a Marvel star, Hollywood stars and creatives fear the end of massive backend deals.

 

Quote

 

Let’s set aside for a moment the question of whether Scarlett Johansson has a legal leg to stand on in her fight with Disney over her compensation for Black Widow. Let’s even say she doesn’t, and that she is — as Disney has publicly contended — greedy and indifferent to the horrors of the pandemic.

 

It doesn’t matter.

 

Because even if all that were true, industry insiders agree, attacking Johansson so personally was a pretty spectacular unforced error. And many observers are laying that at the feet of CEO Bob Chapek (with an assist from reflexively vindictive top communications officer Zenia Mucha and with approval from the lawyers).

 

 

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On 8/1/2021 at 12:46 AM, Remarkableriots said:

Co-president and executive producer Louis D'Esposto could take over for Kevin Feige. All this doom and gloom over one person when lots of people helped create the MCU. Victoria Alonso could also take over for him if he left.

Not saying they can't. But Fiege has been the creative force behind a lot of what makes the MCU successful and if you think he's easily replaceable then congratulations... you are now the head of a major Hollywood studio. They seem to think that creative of all kinds are replaceable and interchangeable too... probably because they are projecting how ultimately useless they are in THEIR jobs.  Feige is a great, hands on producer who has no desire (it seems) to do anything else. That is incredibly rare in this business and it's probably why he's so good at it. Victoria Alonso is not a creative producer. She's Axel Alonso's wife and while she's great at her job, her job is more logistical and on the business end than Fiege's. Fiege is the one with creative vision and is an actual fan of the Marvel Universe. So yeah... if he leaves, the whole thing will implode shortly after... I stand by that. This whole thing was so unlikely to succeed as it was and it did largely because of him :shrug:

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You can also know that a Feige exit from Disney is to a massive deal somewhere else, and it will come with Feige getting the budget to hire whoever else he wants. A non-trivial number of the people under Feige who also work to make the MCU machinery keep chugging will follow him to his new shop.

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2 hours ago, sblfilms said:

You can also know that a Feige exit from Disney is to a massive deal somewhere else, and it will come with Feige getting the budget to hire whoever else he wants. A non-trivial number of the people under Feige who also work to make the MCU machinery keep chugging will follow him to his new shop.

This too.

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Even though I've expressed my ambivalence for the MCU on a number of occasions, I cannot deny that what Feige and his team have accomplished in Phases I - III is nothing short of miraculous.  He's as close to "irreplaceable" as you can get.

 

36 minutes ago, cusideabelincoln said:

Feige is also involved with Star Wars.  I doubt he'll walk.

 

Star Wars is currently the province of Kathleen Kennedy and probably Jon Favreau/Dave Filoni in the future.

 

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