Assholes

https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/...hTGFwBqEcj5zNs

She's literally had to fight tooth and nail to be treated as equal to her male counterparts her entire tenure with Marvel so they're simply making themselves look worse and worse. Wouldn't want to work for them again if I were her. Fortunately, she probably won't need to.

Speaking of her male marvel counterparts, It would have been nice if one of them would have spoken up for her

I'd say it's possible (maybe even probable) that they have contractual reasons that they legally can't.

All of them though? Even RDJ who isn't in that franchise anymore?

I was actually thinking RDJ more than anyone else because the money he makes from it is tied to revenue (so he will essentially be paid by Disney forever as I understand it).

Then again, he's already so rich that I think he'd get better press for speaking out even if it affected his contract. His net worth is something like 3x the "next highest avenger" (Hemsworth, I think).

I understand more the ones still making movies not speaking out, Disney have shown themselves to be ridiculously petty. Although I suspect if they all spoke up in a united way Disney would have a tough time doing anything about it, they're hardly going to cancel the entire multi-billion-$-a-year franchise.

This has been the problem in Hollywood in general, people afraid to speak up about anything for fear of losing money or being black listed, it's why Harvey Weinstein and his kind were able to do what they did for so long too. The big guns like RDJ need to be the ones leading the way, if they do it everyone else can speak too

There are probably all kinds of crazy NDAs and other binding contracts tbh.

I'm more of a reader than watcher, and a DC comics writer who'd previously worked for Marvel once said even for the small amount of work he did for them, there were all sorts of gagging orders he had to sign, and even saying that was technically a breach.

The comics are obviously a different "division", but still part of the same empire. And look above Marvel, and we have the stinking Rat. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney had written it into the contracts that any overt criticism of the way they run things mean they'd be cut off.

The little bits of info that have been emerging make it clear that it is indeed Disney rather than Marvel who have called the shots here, both with the original dispute and now with cutting ties.

I think you're probably right on the NDA's and there will be rules about individual contracts that mean people are free to comment on their own contract, but not the contracts of others.

Still, there are potential ways around that, in terms of making a "broad statement" about fairness etc. that is clearly supportive but doesn't actually reference the specific situation. On balance I do think some of the bigger names could be doing more. The "individual franchise holders" like RDJ/Hemsworth/Evans, certainly. I'd also have included Tom Holland in that but him being mainly under Sony and the weird, complicated relationship between Disney/Sony with the Spider-man franchise probably makes it literally impossible for him to comment on something like this without causing billions of dollars worth of damage :joker:.

If the movie-going business doesn't recover to what it was before the pandemic it is going to mean the end of a lot of high-budget film-making.

It has been reported that attendances are 50% now of what they were, and most of the releases aren't making their money back for the studios.

They'll put more on streaming services, but that would mean lower-budget productions.

Good, quite frankly.

Hollywood's needed to burn, or at least be slapped right down, for a while now. A cesspit of sexual harrassment, and not to mention crapholes like the Rat excreting constant soulless remakes and franchises ...

You have to wonder if Disney has somewhat seen this coming though... given they started a clear effort to slide into streaming. The MCU for a full two years now has been mainly a streaming mini-series franchise. The lines are blurring in terms of what's possible as well, TV post-production has come on in leaps and bounds over the last decade or two. The likes of Netflix/Amazon prime/Disney+, and the bigger broadcast/cable channels, have effects that would have been considered high-budget-movie-quality 10 years ago. I think it was going this way even pre-covid. Big household names started appearing in limited series in a way that just didn't happen even a few years back, when cinematic movies were considered "the big leagues".

I was surprised to see Disney advertising the final series of The Walking Dead today !!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Only in the UK and Ireland. It’s a slightly complicated part of the airing rights for TWD… Fox television owned the airing and syndication rights for The Walking Dead in the UK and Ireland (it aired on FX). Disney now owns Fox and acquired the UK channels in the purchase, along with those syndication rights, which also gives them streaming rights, and so they can whack it on Disney+ here, but not in other countries.

Scarlet Witch backing Scarlet Johansson :love: Looks like from reading this article Drax backed her too, and these two were the only Marvel actors to speak up for her

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/e...QnZR2H6QxmJ3bI

Jamie Lee Curtis has Scarlett Johansson's back!

The 62-year-old actress penned a special message for the Black Widow star as part of Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2021. Published on Wednesday, Curtis fiercely defends Johansson amid her lawsuit against Disney.

"I recently watched her own the screen as the Black Widow, who exacts revenge on a powerful figure who manipulates (emphasis on man) women to fight for him," Curtis writes. "And then I saw her brilliant response to a real-life manipulation (same emphasis), when she filed a breach-of-*contract lawsuit against the studio, alleging its decision to release the film simultaneously in theaters and on streaming cost her substantial losses in pay."

"Whether as an assassin with a conscience, an actor with an emotional center or, having just given birth to her second child, a fierce mother, the message is clear: Don’t ****** with this mama bear," Curtis adds.
https://www.etonline.com/scarlett-jo...lawsuit-172166

Scarlett Johansson and the Walt Disney Co. on Thursday settled her lawsuit over the streaming release of “Black Widow,” bringing a swift end to what had begun as the first major fight between a studio and star over recent changes in rollout plans for films.

Johansson filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court two months ago, saying the streaming release of the Marvel movie breached her contract and deprived her of potential earnings.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the two sides released a joint statement in which they pledged to continue working together.

“I am happy to have resolved our differences with Disney,” said Johansson, who has played Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow, in nine movies going back to 2010’s “Iron Man 2.” “I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve done together over the years and have greatly enjoyed my creative relationship with the team. I look forward to continuing our collaboration.”

Alan Bergman, chairman of Disney Studios Content, said he is “pleased that we have been able to come to a mutual agreement.”

“We appreciate her contributions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and look forward to working together on a number of upcoming projects,” Bergman said.

The lawsuit said Johansson’s contract guaranteed an exclusive theatrical release, with her potential earnings tied to the box office performance of the film.

But as it has with other recent releases since the coronavirus pandemic began, Disney released the film simultaneously in theaters and through its streaming service Disney+ for a $30 rental.

The rhetoric of the lawsuit and Disney’s response suggested a long and ugly battle was ahead.

“In the months leading up to this lawsuit, Ms. Johansson gave Disney and Marvel every opportunity to right their wrong and make good on Marvel’s promise,” the lawsuit said. “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.”

Disney at the time said the lawsuit had “no merit whatsoever,” adding that it was “especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Disney said the changed release plan “significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date.”

Delayed more than a year because of COVID-19, “Black Widow” debuted to a what was then a pandemic-best of $80 million in North America and $78 million from international theaters on July 9. But theatrical grosses declined sharply after that. In its second weekend in release, the National Association of Theater Owners issued a rare statement criticizing the strategy.

Revised hybrid release strategies have occasionally led to public spats between stars, filmmakers and financiers who are unhappy with potential lost revenues and their lack of say in such strategies.

But none were as big or as public as Johansson’s lawsuit.

https://apnews.com/article/scarlett-...83429698de5b66

Honestly this still makes me chuckle, it’s such a PR nightmare, whoever put this statement out very clearly forgot to take off their lawyer hate and put on their long term planning hat :laugh:.

Why is the volume of this film so low on Disney+? It's a little difficult to hear the dialogue.

I'm watching through the web browser, and it was fine for the episode of Book of Boba Fett I watched before.

Ive found the sound isn't normalised much at all on these movies meaning that there is a huge dynamic range between quiet and loud parts. So you turn up the volume to hear them speak and then jump out your seat when they hammer the special effects :laugh:

I finished watching this film. It's pretty good.

A bit weird hearing all these comedy Russian-accents, during current events. :s

I finally got around to watching this today, because I was watching the Hawkeye series and when Yelena showed up I was like "Ah I should prolly watch Black Widow..." :laugh:

I thought it was actually very good, though it does lose something because Natasha is already dead. Like watching a ghost :worry:. It should really have been released when it's set; between Civil War and Infinity War. Should have come after Black Panther. The next time I do a "full MCU rewatch" I'll probably do chronological order and that's where I'll place it.

To be fair the film is pretty anti-Russian :umm2: