Scarlett Johansson's shocking lawsuit against Disney is something that nobody saw coming and quite frankly, it's still hard to fathom considering the Black Widow actress once had a good working relationship with Marvel Studios and the House of Mouse. As it stands, it doesn't look like Johansson and Disney aren't willing to let bygones be bygones, in fact, both parties have gone back-and-forth over the last couple of weeks over the actress' claims that Disney breached their contract in relation to Black Widow's Premier Access release.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek finally broke his silence following Johansson's internet-breaking lawsuit and while he didn't address the matter upfront, Chapek defended the company's decision to do a hybrid release for Black Widow. During the House of Mouse's recent investor call (via ComicBook), the Disney chief said that the strategy was employed due to the pandemic as some moviegoers still aren't ready to hit theaters.
He said: "Last year, in light of the prolonged and unpredictable nature of a pandemic, we needed to find alternative ways to bring our movies to consumers while theaters were closed. And once they began to reopen, there was still widespread reluctance to return. Therefore we adopted a three-prong strategy for releasing our films that consisted of theatrical releases, direct to Disney+, and a hybrid of theatrical plus Premier Access, as we did with Cruella, Jungle Cruise, and Marvel's Black Widow, the top-performing film at the domestic box office since the start of a pandemic. Bob Iger and I, along with the leaders of our creative and distribution teams, determine this was the right strategy because it would enable us to reach the broadest possible audience."
Also Read: Disney Reportedly Severs Ties with Scarlett Johansson Following Black Widow Controversy
We all remain hopeful that Scarlett and Disney will be able to settle their differences as soon as possible but it can't be denied that the relationship between them has already been tarnished. It's quite evident that things have already gone too personal between the two parties and we've proven over the last couple of days that the actress is more than willing to burn bridges and I don't think there's anything we can do about that.
Black Widow is still streaming via Disney+'s Premier Access.
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