Disney Responds To Scarlett Johansson's BLACK WIDOW Lawsuit and Kevin Feige is Reportedly "Angry" With Disney

Yesterday we learned that Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against Disney over Black Widow claiming a breach of contract when they ended up releasing the film on Disney+.

The suit reads, “Disney intentionally induced Marvel’s breach of the agreement, without justification, in order to prevent Ms. Johansson from realizing the full benefit of her bargain with Marvel.”

Johansson’s attorney, John Berlinski, said in a statement, “It’s no secret that Disney is releasing films like Black Widow directly onto Disney+ to increase subscribers and thereby boost the company’s stock price – and that it’s hiding behind Covid-19 as a pretext to do so. But ignoring the contracts of the artists responsible for the success of its films in furtherance of this short-sighted strategy violates their rights and we look forward to proving as much in court. This will surely not be the last case where Hollywood talent stands up to Disney and makes it clear that, whatever the company may pretend, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts.”

Disney has since responded to the lawsuit with a statement of their own saying there is no merit to what Johansson is claiming. Their statement hits back at Johansson saying:

"There is no merit whatsoever to this filing. The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Disney has fully complied with Ms. Johansson’s contract and furthermore, the release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date."

IN case you’re wondering what Kevin Fiege is thinking about all of this, in a new What I'm Hearing... newsletter from former The Hollywood Reporter editor Matthew Belloni, Feige is reportedly “angry and embarrassed” about the way Disney handled the release of Black Widow. This report says:

"[Feige is] a company man, and not prone to corporate showdowns or shouting matches. But I’m told he’s angry and embarrassed. He lobbied Disney against the day-and-date plan for Black Widow, preferring the big screen exclusivity and not wanting to upset his talent. And then when the sh-t hit the fan, the movie started tanking, and Johansson’s team threatened litigation, he wanted Disney to make this right with her.”

There’s obviously a lot of drama going on behind-the-scenes and it sounds like one of the main reasons behind all of this madness is lack of communication on Disney’s part. To avoid all of this, all they had to do was reach out to the talent and talk to each other to get on the same page.

Johansson’s agent Bryan Lourd also recently issued a statement in response to Disney’s harsh slam against the actress. As you might imagine, he’s pretty pissed off at Disney as well. His statement reads:

I want to address the Walt Disney Company’s statement that was issued in response to the lawsuit filed against them yesterday by our client Scarlett Johansson. They have shamelessly and falsely accused Ms. Johansson of being insensitive to the global COVID pandemic, in an attempt to make her appear to be someone they and I know she isn’t.

Scarlett has been Disney’s partner on nine movies, which have earned Disney and its shareholders billions. The company included her salary in their press statement in an attempt to weaponize her success as an artist and businesswoman, as if that were something she should be ashamed of.  Scarlett is extremely proud of the work that she, and all of the actors, writers, directors, producers, and the Marvel creative team have been a part of for well over a decade.

This suit was filed as a result of Disney’s decision to knowingly violate Scarlett’s contract. They have very deliberately moved the revenue stream and profits to the Disney+ side of the company, leaving artistic and financial partners out of their new equation.  That’s it, pure and simple.

Disney’s direct attack on her character and all else they implied is beneath the company that many of us in the creative community have worked with successfully for decades.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out. Johansson and her team seem confident enough in their claims to take on Disney, though. In the end, I’m sure that Johansson will be walking away with some kind of big payout.

What do you think about Disney’s response to the whole thing and how Kevin Feige is reportedly feeling about the situation?