Another update in the ongoing lawsuit between Scarlett Johansson and Disney has come, this time in an attempt to get things into arbitration.
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According to a recent report by The Hollywood Reporter, Disney has petitioned the Los Angeles Superior Court to initiate Johansson’s lawsuit in arbitration. In the motion, Disney essentially states that it had previously agreed with Johansson to initiate arbitration should any problems arise and asks the courts to help them with that.
“The simple and expansive language of the arbitration agreement encompasses the complaint from Immergrün,” says the motion. “In a futile attempt to circumvent this inevitable outcome (and publicize it through a public filing), Evergreen excluded Marvel from being a party to this lawsuit – and instead replaced its parent company, Disney, according to contract failure theories. But well-tried principles do not allow such a playing art. “
The move comes just weeks after Disney’s longtime attorney Daniel Petrocelli called Johansson’s lawsuit nothing more than “a highly orchestrated public relations campaign” and said Disney upheld its end of the contract by publishing it Black widow on 9,000 US screens and 30,000 screens worldwide.
Johansson’s argument seems to stem from making the decision Black widow a daily release in theaters and online through Disney + ‘s Premiere Access service hurt the actress and the box office bonuses she may have received. Petrocelli said the film’s release on Disney + acted as a boost as the revenue from the Premiere Access service goes into the box office.
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However, it seems like Johansson’s team is still confident that Disney was wrong here, so it will be interesting to see where this fight goes next.
