The Scarlett Johansson lawsuit continues to boil on the back burner of the cultural conversation, with recent reports claiming the actress expected to earn at least $70 million from Black Widow, if it had been released as a theatrical exclusive without the pandemic’s impact.
She made $20 million up front, and Disney’s legal team is using it to criticize her decision to take action; the other $50 million would be accrued by performance-related bonuses and profit participation, based on a succession of box office milestones.
Allegedly, Johansson thought Black Widow would hit the billion-dollar threshold. However, was somewhat optimistic since the only Marvel movies to hit that mark (that didn’t feature Tony Stark) are Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The latest speculation from That Hashtag Show posits that the two-time Academy Award nominee wanted $100 million when she renegotiated her Black Widow deal with her corporate overlords at the Mouse House, a figure her team came to by estimating that the prequel would have earned $1.2 billion from theaters under normal circumstances (which is less than 10%, so it wasn’t all that unreasonable on paper).
Again, optimistic, but it was a starting figure, and one that Disney could have counter-negotiated. Right now, the situation hasn’t been resolved, but most likely will result is an out-of-court payout to keep things out of headlines.