Scarlett Johansson’s bold decision to sue Disney for breach of contract after Black Widow was awarded a hybrid release on Disney Plus Premier Access without her contract being altered is looking like it might be the catalyst for all-out war between Hollywood’s A-list talent and the studios responsible for shuffling their movies onto streaming day-and-date.
The Mouse House were quick to publicly dismiss Johansson’s lawsuit with verbiage deriding her as greedy having already been paid $20 million for starring as Natasha Romanoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s feature length Phase Four opener, but a new report now claims that Emma Stone is considering walking down the same path in regards to Cruella.
As an Academy Award winning A-lister who executive produced and headlined the 101 Dalmations origin story, Stone would have had profit percentage bonuses and back-end clauses built into her deal as well. Cruella has so far earned a respectable $225 million at the box office, but much like Black Widow, that earning potential was hampered by Premier Access.
The report also names Jungle Cruise star Emily Blunt as another potentially disgruntled employee, but you get the distinct feeling that someone of Dwayne Johnson’s standing and star power would have had all of his bases covered before he agreed to his latest mega budget adventure taking a serious financial hit from losing out on a ton of revenue, which Disney ironically get to pocket a larger share of seeing as they don’t have to split the profits with theater chains and distributors.
Cruella came and went in the blink of an eye, but if Stone does launch a claim, then we could be set for some seriously explosive exchanges between the industry’s biggest names and most notable studios.
