Disney Attorney Says Scarlett Johansson’s Lawsuit Is An ‘Orchestrated PR Campaign’

A lawyer for Disney is taking another shot at Scarlett Johansson over her Black Widow lawsuit, calling it “a highly orchestrated PR campaign.” As you likely known, Johansson filed a lawsuit against Disney late last month over the decision to put the MCU film on Disney+ for Premier Access alongside its theatrical release, alleging that the studio “intentionally induced” Marvel to breach her contract in order to prevent her “from realizing the full benefit of her bargain” by depressing ticket sales while still making money via Disney+.

That led to a widely-criticized statement from Disney that called the suit “especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic” and publicizing that Johansson was paid $20 million for the film. Now, speaking with Variety, longtime Disney attorney Daniel Petrocelli accused the lawsuit of an attempt to force additional money from Disney.

“It is obvious that this is a highly orchestrated PR campaign to achieve an outcome that is not obtainable in the lawsuit,” Petrocelli said. “No amount of public pressure can change or obscure the explicit contractual commitments. The written contract is clear as a bell.”

Johansson has argued that making Black Widow available via a day-and-date strategy on Disney+ allowed the company to make profit while preventing certain box office-related bonuses from kicking in for the actress. Petrocelli has pushed back on that, saying, “We treated Disney Premier Access (revenue) like box office for the purposes of the bonus requirements in the contract. That only enhanced the economics for Ms. Johansson.”

Petrocelli claimed that the contract calls for a release of the film on a minumum of 1,500 screens, and says Disney released it on 9,000 screens in the US and 30,000 worldwide. He also stressed that the distribution decisions are entirely with Disney and that the day-and-date strategy was necessary due to the pandemic. He noted, “You had an unexpected COVID crisis and the studio was trying to accommodate millions of fans who are nervous and not comfortable going inside theaters. All studios have had to adjust.”

In a statement, Johansson’s lawyer said that Petrocelli’s remakes are “a desperate attempt” at image rehabilitation after the original statement which caused the studio to come under significant fire. He went on to say, “But Disney’s lawyers cannot erase the company’s earlier public statements, the terms of Ms. Johansson’s contract, the history of what actually led to this lawsuit, or the implications of its behavior on the talent community at large. If Disney genuinely believed what its lawyers now claim, it would welcome having the dispute decided in open court, instead of angling to hide its misconduct from the public in a confidential arbitration.”

Black Widow has made $174.4 million domestically and $350.9 million worldwide. The first-weekend Disney+ revenue was announced to be $60 million, though it is not known what business it has done since.